The Move To A Big Kid Bed

When I was pregnant my parents took me shopping for baby furniture. I selected a crib that converted into a toddler bed. Uncle Carlo transitioned the crib into the toddler bed when JD was two. Yesterday, JD’s big boy bed arrived and I got very emotional.

I remember our first apartment. It was a one-bedroom and I moved in a month before JD arrived. Uncle Carlo assembled the crib and my mom helped me attach the jungle themed bumpers. I remember those nights alone in my bed with the crib to the right of me. JD kicked and moved and my belly bulged with his body. I remember my friend, Katie, visiting me in the hospital the day after JD was born. She gave me a stuffed elephant fashioned like an accordion. I fastened it to JD’s crib (a piece that sustained when it converted to the toddler bed) his first night home. Every night since, I pulled on it and twinkle music would play. “More music, Mommy,” JD said on some very recent nights. I’d pull it again—and again.

On Monday morning, my 31^st birthday, I was rushing around to get out of the door. I ran into JD’s room to grab him socks and switch his light off and I looked at his honey-colored toddler bed, once a crib and smiled. Uncle Carlo disassembled it and stored it away during the day. I told him to pay attention to the elephant. “Don’t lose it, be careful,” I said. JD’s room looked empty when I returned home for my My Little Pony Birthday cake. The elephant slipped my mind completely. I had pizza and cake to eat—and presents to open.

JD bunked with me on Monday night—his warm little body pressed against my side. The next day the doorbell rang. Two delivery men marched in with boxes and a toolbox. They assembled the twin bed. When they left, I spread Cars 2 bedding on it and JD went nuts!

In the corner of his room, I noticed the elephant lying on the floor—almost discarded, like he never mattered at all—like a stray toy for a donation box or something.

There was nowhere to attach it on the new bed. So, I attached it to the French doorknob of JD’s closet. I’ll pull the string and let the twinkle music play as long as my baby lets me. And one day, the elephant will hang in JD’s baby’s room and he will be a great father and pull the string every night. Every night.

Is your child in a big kid bed? Did you get emotional when your child moved from crib to toddler bed to big kid bed? Please share.

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