Bittersweet

I don't think I ever fully understood the word "bittersweet" until tonight.

I woke up thinking about the neighborhood rummage sale and decided I may as well throw a bunch of kids' stuff out there. So, I asked Judson to take down Veronica's crib to set out for the shoppers. (I had the idea in my brain for days before and think that's why I was suddenly tearful the day leading up to this.) The grown-ups cried off and on during the process, but the little girl who always says, "I'm bigger," well she was excited.

I know, I know. They are three and a half. Most of their peers have been out of cribs for a long time. I thought I was postponing it for the convenience. They can climb out, of course, and they are quite skilled at climbing out. However, they don't do it (usually) unless I tell them it's time to get out of bed. Why would I give that up???? I decided that we needed to accept the next step. I mean, Veronica's pretty much potty trained (except for nighttime) and she is so proud of all the things she can do as a big girl. She has been asking when she'll get this "big girl bed."

Veronica could not wait through the day. She questioned us at least every 10 minutes as to when we would set up her big girl bed. Well, with the yard sale, it wasn't going to happen that fast. She was patient, but she wanted to know.

Finally, we got the yard sale cleaned up. The first task was to convert Thomas's crib to a toddler bed. (We wanted to utilize the extra space of the missing crib to do our handiwork.) Thomas came in while Judson was working on it and I was out of the room grabbing a tool. I heard an indignant Thomas across the house, "WHAT are you DOING TO MY BED?!!!" Judson explained and I heard a pleasant, "Oh, OK."

Then we were finally ready to bring Veronica's bed in. Thanks to Amy and Brad we had a toddler bed ready to go for her. It was so nice to have it because we likely would not have invested in a toddler bed, but two twin beds would not fit in their little room. We weren't ready to move rooms or decide to split them up!

As soon as the sheets were on the bed, Veronica was ready for bed for the night (at 5 pm or earlier). Thomas admitted he wanted a rest. He had dived onto his bed before we put the guard rail up, so we had to show him how to get in it around the rail. Veronica was more than happy to oblige. "Look Thomas, watch how I do it." They practiced over and over going from sitting on the edge of the bed to laying down.

We told them the "rules" of the big beds: no jumping, books go in the basket beside the bed when done reading (as opposed to the 20-30 (seriously) books we would find in each of their beds when we changed the sheets), and that they have to stay in their beds during rest time and bed time. We let them "take a rest" while we listened in on the monitor.

They took turns asking each other to "Watch my kids, please." The other was happy to assist each time.

We heard a lot of giggles, and then "Want me to tuck you in, Thomas?"

T: "I want Daddy."

This interaction repeated several times, until {pitter patter back to her bed}... "DADDEEEEEE, Thomas NEEEEEEEEEEEEDS YOU!!!"

We've come a long way from the kids who could share a bassinet to the "big kid beds." I want to freeze time and savor these moments forever, but I love every new step as well. Now, I think I fully understand the word bittersweet.