WAH! I Want My Baby Back!

Today has been a tough day for me. Jake got home from his trip this afternoon and very soon, the crib was gone and a toddler bed stood in its place. We took the glider out of her room (although I think it will go back in, in a few weeks when I trust her not to get out of bed so much) and we moved her room around to accommodate it all better. Her bookshelf was already bolted to the wall so that was one task we did not have to deal with. Her changing table is sturdy and wide-legged enough to not be much of a falling danger. The worst she would really do there is pull out all of her clothes from the drawers. Plus there is no way to bolt that to the wall. We took out all the toys from her room and all that is left is books. Oh and we put those annoying door knob things on her closet door and the inside knob so she can’t get out and wander at night.

Bedtime was different but not awful. With the glider gone, we had to sit together on her new big girl bed and read books. She has been very excited about the bed, in fact climbing up on it the minute the front crib side came down, before we had the bed rail completely attached. So as I read to her, she was bouncing around on her bed. I warned her several times not to stand on her new big girl bed and she seemed to listen. I put her back in bed a couple times before I left the room, and we heard her crying in her room through the monitor once I got downstairs. At one point, it was obvious that she was out of bed because I heard her wailing REALLY loudly which told me she was standing next to the monitor in her room. I went up about an hour after she quieted down, expecting to find her asleep on the floor but she was in fact in her bed. She was crumpled up near the end of the bed and I picked her up and moved her so her head was on her pillow and she didn’t make a peep. I have a feeling though, that I’ll be in there more than once tonight.

I was so sad tonight at dinner. I was just thinking about all the work and planning we did on the room before she was born. It’s not like I thought she’d have her nursery full of bees her whole life. But wow, I just thought that we’d have more than 20 months of nursery before it started looking like a big girl room. I’m still not going to redecorate until she’s old enough to tell me what she wants so the bees will be with us for a while yet. Just the way of things, I suppose, when your baby starts to really grow up.

Oh, and just so you know, as a point of reference…. the book What to Expect The Toddler Years puts this stage of moving to a toddler bed at 24 months. Bridget will be 20 months on Saturday. Now I know that all kids develop differently but this really does seem early to me. But except for teething, Bridget has hit all of her milestones early. I know that I was in a crib until I was almost four but I also know that I could get out of it. I have clear memories of climbing out of it and I think my move to a bed was delayed by a move from St. Louis to southern California - my parents just didn’t want to buy furniture in St. Louis to just move it a few weeks later. Practicality runs in my family I guess.

Part of me wonders if we did this too soon. I mean, just because she climbed out once doesn’t mean she’ll do it every time she goes to bed. She didn’t do it at nap time today. Maybe it was just a fluke. But then I slap myself in the face and realize that she took her first step one day and then didn’t do it again for a few days, but it was only a matter of time before she was a dedicated walker. So no, even if she didn’t do it again for a month, we would never know when it was going to start happening again, and next time she might hurt herself.

I think that this is how life with Bridget is going to be - her dragging me kicking and screaming to the next stage of her life. I might as well get used to it.

Filed under Mommy Zombie |