Ada's Eviction Notice

This is the story of how Ada's room, as she once knew it, is gone. Over. Done with. Fini.

Poor kid.

She wasn't even bad. She didn't do anything to deserve this. Other parents at least wait until their child is crawling out of the crib, Superman-ing off the top railing and threatening to break his or her neck. Not us meanies. Nope. We just took over, picked a date, and made things happen.

Whatever. She's not a poor little kid. Don't pity her. The way I see it, she just entered the land of the free. No crib to keep her confined. She's spoiled and just got super lucky with the fact that her old crib doesn't turn into a toddler bed, whereas the new one does. In order for Baby Brother (BB) to fit into her room, she had to move to the big girl bed, and freedom. Tough life, I know.

So how is she handling it? Well... the first afternoon as we tore apart her room, she told me to kiss off when I tried to get her to take a nap. I even crawled into the toddler bed with her--while holding my breath and praying that it would hold me, BB in the belly, and 35 lbs of Ada, not to mention her 10 stuffed animals that permanently inhabit the surface of her mattress. It held, and she held firm on the no nap front too. I gave up and we kept on cleaning, reorganizing, and rearranging. But I wasn't all that surprised when 8 pm came and Ada climbed up on my chest and belly for a cuddle, and passed out within five minutes. It must be exhausting watching movies while your parents rearrange your whole room. I know it was exhausting rearranging it. And I'm thankful I don't have to put cribs together more than once or twice in my lifetime. Next time I'm just going to watch the video online instead of trying to translate the instruction manual.

The good news is, she's been good about sleeping in there at night so far. And we won't be home for her to take a nap until a week from now so we can deal with that issue later. She doesn't seem to be able to really turn her door handle quite yet either so she's still semi-contained, at least confined to her room. We'll see how long that lasts.

Free at last. Free at last. Ada Quinn is free at last.

I went in to take photos of the new set up tonight, but it's kind of a disaster zone so I'll have to wait a few more days.

Moral of the story: Some kids love their independence, others fear it. Hope for the best and try to instill an appreciation and acceptance of change in your child from day one. It pays off.