Big Beds and Tuttle Shirts
Last night around 11:00, I went in to check on the kids before I went to bed. When I went into Bean’s room, though, he was no where to be found. And neither were the sheets on his bed, his pillow, his comforter, and all his stuffed animals. It was just his mattress laying there.
He has done this before. He moves his bedding to some other part of his room and camps out there. But I checked all over his room, and he wasn’t in there. I went to look in Gracie’s room because I’ve also caught him camping out on her floor before, but he wasn’t in there either. Now I started to get nervous. I noticed the bathroom light was on, and I peeked in there to see if he was set up in there for some reason, but no luck. I searched that house from top to bottom. No Bean.
Finally, I decided to check his room one more time, just to be sure he wasn’t in his closet and I just hadn’t seen him (I’ve found him in there before, too). As I passed the guest bedroom on my way down the hall, though, something caught my eye. Buzz Lightyear was hanging off the guest bed. I didn’t have the lights on because I didn’t want to wake Bean, wherever he was, but I quickly flipped the hall light on so I could see better.
There he was. Sprawled out on the guest bed, snoring. He had brought all of his bedding and stuffed animals with him, and recreated his bed on top of the guest bed. He laid his bottom sheet down, had his comforter on top of him, Mr. Bear tucked in next to him, and all his favorite stuffed animals lined up along the headboard. It was too cute to move, so I let him sleep there.
This morning, Chris and I called Bean up to the guest bedroom after breakfast. I was ready to get on to him and tell him he had to move all his stuff back to his room, but instead Chris led the conversation.
“Hey, buddy,” he said gently. “How come you moved in here last night?”
“It’s just more comfortable than my bed,” Bean said. “I like this bed better.”
“Yeah? You like being able to spread out like this on this bigger bed?” Chris said, smiling.
“Yeah, all my guys fit up here with me.”
“Well, maybe it’s time we got you a big boy bed,” Chris said. “You want a big bed like this in your room?”
“YEAH!” Bean shouted.
I knew the day would come when we would move him out of his toddler bed. In fact, I knew it would come soon. He still fits in his little race car bed, but he’s not a toddler anymore. I just hadn’t gotten around to taking the next step yet. And I never dreamed that Bean would be the one to ASK for a big bed. I really didn’t think he knew the difference!
About ten minutes later, I went into Gracie’s room to get her dressed for the day. I took down one of her shirts that had a pig with sunglasses on it.
“NO PIGGY!” Gracie shouted, stamping her foot.
Well, this was new. Gracie never said anything about her clothes!
“No piggy?” I asked. “Why?”
“NO PIGGY! WANT TUTTLE!”
“You want to wear your turtle shirt instead of the piggy shirt?” I repeated, just to clarify. This had never happened before, and I wasn’t quite sure I was ready for it to happen now. Was Gracie getting PREFERENCES??????
“YES! TUTTLE SHURT!”
So, this morning, both my kids grew up within about 10 minutes of each other. I AM NOT PREPARED FOR THIS! I THOUGHT I HAD MORE TIME! We are having a yard sale in a couple weeks, and I have been pumping myself up to sell our baby crib then. I thought I had WEEKS left to prepare for my kids to grow up????
I CAN’T HANDLE THIS!
I am not ready for big beds and tuttle shirts!
10 Comments
Mae
Lucky you, Gracie is just now voicing her opinion on her clothes ! Avery who will be 2 next month has been voicing her opinion on her clothes AND shoes since she was about 18 months! Good luck dealing with kids who are growing up too fast…I’m trying not to cry as I watch my almost 2 year old and 3.5 year old grow before my eyes!
Rebecca @ The Reluctant Housewife
aaaah! Why don’t kids ever give you warning when they’re about to grow by leaps and bounds??? Wouldn’t it be nice if the night before they were like, “hey, mom. Tomorrow I’m going to blow your mind and melt your heart at the same time and simultaneously give you a glimpse into who I’m going to be at 14″… wouldn’t that be nice???
Amy S
I hate my kids growing up, but I love it too! I just had to by my baby girl a bra and came home to my preteen boy with his first zit …..and it hit me. Waaaaa! I want them to stay little forever!
Em
I get that! My two children are grown and independent, one is getting married… they turned into amazing adults. And I miss those moments that you wrote about every day! But yet am so proud and grateful. Bittersweet is the flavor of my life.
Alaina
Wow, they are growing up! Hard to believe for sure!
micky
one suggestion… If you get him a single or a double bed the blankets and comforter get heavier. So if he is prone to kicking his covers off they will fall clear to the floor and then he won’t be strong enough to re cover himself up in the middle of the night. So… one solution is to move the mattress and box spring to the floor. Just for awhile. Then the blankets can move around easier. Someone gave me the suggestion and it solved our problems right away! Good luck!
kat
are you moving to a twin or full or queen?!
P has been all about opinions lately and it’s starting to freak me out: what shirt (or rather, pjs) she wants to wear to school, if she wants her hair up or down, what color clips go in, if it’s jeans or leggings. She’s 2. Don’t I get another year or two of picking those things for her?!
Ann @ Such a Mama
Connor loved getting his big boy bed. But he got his because his sister was being born and needed his. He also went through an opinion about what he wanted to wear last summer. Essentially I needed to purchase 7 Lightening MacQueen shirts – one for each day of the week. And then one day he just stopped. With the exception of a nice plaid button down I got him to wear for Easter. He still tells me he won’t wear that Easter shirt! But I have a funny feeling that Gracie is going to start having some serious opinions about her wardrobe that won’t go away quickly. 🙂
Jen @ Ginger Guide
Ooh buddy, Sully is 2.5 now and is super picky about his clothes too. Jeans, not khakis and heaven forbid if you try to put on a COLLARED shirt. It will cause the most epic meltdown. We’re always running too late in the morning for that so I play it safe with Buzz Lightyear and Lightning McQueen shirts. Can’t go wrong there.
Kristin B
Bean looks 12 in that picture. I’m not ok with that. LOL