A Toddler Bed for Tink

"Oh my goodness sakes" (one of Willa's patented sayings), if only you could feel the excitement emanating from this tiny little (seriously closet-sized) pink bedroom that belongs to my baby who's not a baby anymore, you'd be doing jazz hands right alongside her.

She is super pumped about her little "big girl bed."

My dearest little Willa Kate is my sweet little second born, "yes, you may" angel.  She will be three in March and has never even tried to climb out of her crib.  We actually joked that we may have to pull her out of it for her first morning of kindergarten.  (For comparison, Harper had already been in a full size bed for a year at Willa's age.  After successfully climbing out of her crib a few times, we moved her to a toddler bed, which really wasn't big enough for her since she likes to lie sideways in the bed, so a month shy of her second birthday, she was already in a legit big girl bed.)   

We didn't take the pack 'n play to Bubba's house last week, so the girls just slept together in a full size bed.  And Willa managed to not fall out.  Since they are on their winter break from school, we also let them have some sister sleepovers together in Harper's room, and again, Willa did just fine.

Knowing we had a perfectly good toddler bed in the attic just waiting for WK (seriously, nine out of every ten of her belongings must be a hand-me-down), we decided it was time to bring it down.  In true Fertitta fashion, that was at 9 p.m., so we literally started taking apart her crib and finished assembling her toddler bed around 10 p.m.  To show you just how much we are on a Christmas break schedule, here's a peek at how much energy she had coming in to see her newly made bed in her room.  At 10 p.m.

It was a little bit of crazy timing, but we had just finished up a family board game and started talking about bed when Sam asked Willa if she wanted to sleep in a big girl bed in her room (Sam and I had talked about it before Christmas, and both agreed she really needed to go ahead and move to a toddler bed, so that she could get up and go potty in the middle of the night if she really needed to.)  Wills was so excited about the idea, that we said, let's do it.  

Truth be told, I think my mama heart just needed to strike while the iron was hot, while everyone was excited about it and it felt lighthearted and fun.  I had to pull off the bandaid before I let myself sit and think about how this will be the first time in nearly six years that my home doesn't have a crib in it.  And that there's a chance that it may never again.  I had to hurry and help along before I let the idea sink in that last night was the last time I'll ever tuck my baby into her crib.  At nearly three, we've cruised through the majortiy of developmental firsts, which means we're beginning to approach some lasts with our girls.  The tricky part is that we never really know when that last time will be.  Harper has had the habit over the last six months of coming to crawl in our bed when she wakes up around 4:30, and goes back to sleep snuggling us.  Most mornings, Sam complains about her always coming in, and I remind him that she won't do it forever.  She hasn't come in a single night of winter break, so maybe we passed another "last time" without even noticing it.  It takes my breath just to think of how quickly these two babies of mine have become and are becoming precious big girls.

After being reminded one time that she's not to get out of her bed once we've tucked her in unless it's to potty, she went to sleep in her sweet toddler bed.  Sweet girl was still asleep when I left for work, and Kasey text me later in the morning to tell me she had to wake her up at 9:15.  I am so proud of that girl for staying all night in her big girl bed.  If you know our family well, you're probably hearing in your head Sam and I singing our household's "All Night in Her Big Girl Bed" song that we started with Harper three and a half years ago.  Precious little Tink Tink was so excited when we got to sing our celebratory anthem to her this evening.  Even if my eyes fill with tears selfishly grieving these little lasts, my heart's filled with equal parts pride at all the great things this little blonde of mine is doing and it reminds me of all that great things that are yet to come.