Growing Pains

When Daphne's mom, Deb, was pregnant, she and her husband were short on money. They found a crib in a back alley behind their house waiting to be picked up by the garbageman.

They freshened it up with some paint, and Deb put on a few animal decals to make it look more modern. Thirty some years later, I found myself doing the same thing to the same crib. I loved the thought of Char sleeping in her mom's and aunt's bed; I just didn't put on any stickers. I did make sure the side rail could not slide down, and Deb and Aunt Phadrea quilted the infant bumpers for the crib.

Good Lord, she looked so small the first time we placed her in her crib.

But she grew bigger.

And bigger.

And then a couple of days ago Charlotte figured out how to safely climb out of her crib and get back in again. That pretty much made the crib bars useless. It was time to buy her a "big girl" bed.

Today was the last day I will ever wake my little girl up from a nap in her crib. I won't ever again sneak into her room and see this:

 

I'll post some pictures of her new bed as soon as I wipe the tears from my eyes. Maybe that sounds overly-dramatic, but it's true.

Watching your child grow up is an experience mixed with with pride and sadness. It's like Charlotte's growing too big for me to hold her, but I don't want her to stop needing me to hold her.