We have five kids. We’ve gone through the various stages often enough to recognize what’s coming, even though each of the kids has been totally different to parent. And Sylvie started showing signs of being ready for a big bed months ago. We were ready! We’d also learned to keep the crib up, and make it her choice whether she wanted to sleep like a big girl or a baby. Trick is, if we catch you out of bed and wreaking havoc, that constitutes “making your choice”. So really it’s a threat to behave. At some point though, the crib becomes a jungle gym temptation to all of the taller kids. So it’s gotta go.

We’ve know this was coming, talked about the end of the era. And I’d say it was devastating, heart wrenching…but it wasn’t. Bittersweet, I can agree with. We have no regrets – our kids are amazing, and during the baby era, we’ve kissed and rocked and changed and fed babies for years. We enjoyed every fat cheek, every first step – but we’re enjoying where the kids are now, too, and this phase doesn’t require a crib.

That’s exactly what should be happening at this age, but it does make us marvel. They are excited about things we’ve never heard of, games we didn’t know existed that they bring to our attention, and we realized it’s the era when they teach us as much as we teach them. We discovered Beyblades with Remy, and kids’ science experiments with Tess. They love songs we don’t know, and are beginning to develop interests that will take us down so many random rabbit holes! It’s exciting to let them take the lead sometimes, even if it’s a very small step towards independence. So taking down this crib really meant acknowledging their growth, and that we are ready for what comes next. Let’s call that a silver lining of this quality time together!