Crib Notes

Well, it's done.  Finally and officially checked off of my To Do List.  The task in and of itself was not a difficult one to accomplish physically, except for the one stubborn knot...

...which just wanted to stay tied, remain attached, hold on tightly, cling to the crib to which it had been tethered for almost two years.  It was the undoing of that knot that almost proved to be my undoing on that muggy morning.

It would have been silly to leave her crib assembled any longer.  Since returning home from our vacation over one month ago, our baby, a toddler really, has spent but one night in the bed that cradled her first on the night her father and I were brave enough to trust her to it.  It was the expectation of her birth that rearranged our home in such a way that for the first time in our lives the children's rooms were on a different floor than our own.  For that very reason, our fourth child was the one to enjoy an extended stay in our room, much, much longer than even her brother, the first-born, had enjoyed.

Even as the nursery was to be little used at first, and though her arrival in our family was many years into our parenthood, the preparation of the little room at the top of the stairs was given an important place on a To Do List two summers ago.  After much remodeling and relocating of most of its residents, our little home was almost ready to welcome our newest little one.

Almost, except for the finishing touches.

Now the little room at the top of the stairs goes through another adjustment and so do I.

I want to stay tied, remain attached, hold on tightly, cling to the baby who was nestled in this crib.

The one who fit snuggly into the single arm that carried her above the fray of her siblings, the same fray of which she is presently the ring leader.  The infant who loved to be rocked to sleep, who, this very night, caught me lingering too long at her bedside and waved me from her room with a dismissive "G'nite Mommy."  The tiny babe who joined us in our bed each morning looking for her breakfast is the one who still joins us each morning in our bed but who now comes looking for the remote control.

It's time, I know...time marches on and all that.  Yet for the ease of this task physically, a few bolts loosened here and there, the emotional toll is great.  The stubborn knot isn't what tugs at me.  All of those frolicking butterflies on the blanket are waiting on something, something I've been meaning to take care of for them ever since I took them from their packaging many months ago.  See this cute little turned up corner?

I've been meaning to clip it so that it lies properly in the crib.  Now the crib is going away and those butterflies are still waiting to have their corner fixed.  It's a little thing for certain, but I was going to take care of it the night before we left for the hospital...and now it reminds me of time's speed and of things left undone, more important things, and it's weighty.

This milestone gives a nod to time's haste indeed, but it should also celebrate future's potential.  The future with all of its promise and challenge begins here for our Miss Molly...

...who was recently awarded the title,"Child who Best Handled the Move to the "Big Bed"" by her appreciative daddy.  During her month in her new bed, she has yet to get up after the goodnights have been uttered, well besting her brother's record 13 times in one night during his season of transition!  Way to go little girl!

Get ready though, we're gonna work on that passy next, 

but until we do, I've decided to keep the butterflies waiting on that little turned up corner.

I think we've all been through enough change for now.