Bye Bye Crib – And A Toddler’s Perspective
It’s exciting times chez nous. The crib is gone, there’s a little mattress on the floor with Spider-Man sheets on it, and the frame for Ollie’s big boy bed is ready to be put together.
How the hell did we get here so fast?!
In all honesty, we could have been here a long time ago. Ollie stopped wanting to be in his crib a long time ago. And it’s our fault really. Since he was born we had an old futon in his bedroom on the opposite wall. We sat on it together as a family for story time and then we put him to bed. When he was an itty bitty baby and needed cuddles to calm him in the middle of the night, we’d lay there until he was asleep and then move him back to the crib. And then, he just stopped wanting to sleep in the crib and wanted to sleep on the futon, even if we weren’t laying down with him. And so that’s what happened.
Taking the side off of the crib – that didn’t make a lick of difference. We did that back in September and I’d guess that the total nights that he slept any hours on it at night is three. And the nights he slept the whole night on it was zero.
The real issue here is the ‘he’s growing up and he’s not a baby anymore and my God he’s going to be three years old at the end of April and where has the time gone and soon he’ll be in school and yada yada yada’. And yes, it did go very fast. But that’s the way she goes I guess. As parents I’m sure we all have these moments whether it’s with a crib or a pair of cute pjs or an old toy or blanket or something. I get it.
But then the kid came out of nowhere to remind me that perspective is a hell of a thing. While I was sitting on his new mattress, looking at the empty space where his crib had just been not 10 minutes earlier, thinking about him as a wee baby and me laying on the floor and reaching between the bars to soothe him, and getting all nostalgic – he had other things on his mind.
He wanted to dance.
In his room, which previously had a futon folded down always and a crib that he didn’t sleep in, there was suddenly space. Space that he could dance in. So he asked me for music on my phone, and I pulled it out, and turned it on, and he danced like the happiest little boy. And it was perfect.
I got to hold onto some precious memories and at the exact same time, watch my happy, active, sweet boy twirl and jump and sing.
That will become just as sweet a memory as me laying there beside him singing or playing with his hair or telling him goodnight and I love you.
I’m a lucky dad.
Here’s what I wrote to go with an old photo after we were done disassembling…
It’s a big day around here. The crib was sold, disassembled, and delivered to a new home for a new baby.
It’s a weird feeling. Ollie stopped sleeping in the crib a long time ago (he loved the futon) and he’ll officially be in a new (to us) big boy bed soon – right now he’s getting used to his new mattress on the floor. But the crib actually being gone from his room is one of those “he’s growing up” moments.
Here’s a photo I snapped when he was just a wee baby getting ready to start sleeping in his own room in the crib.
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And here’s the post I put up when I built the crib, just days before Oliver surprised us and was born two weeks early!