Last weekend, Adrian and I dropped the kids off with grandparents and headed to Ikea for some fun shopping. Our mission: 1) a twin bed for Oo so that T could move out of the crib and into Oo's toddler bed; 2) new bedding to fit Oo's new bed; and 3) a bookcase for T. After a four-hour round-trip drive and four hours in the store (there's just so much to look at!!), we were successful. And since the kids were having an overnighter with the grandparents, we were able to come home, disassemble the crib, assemble the new bed and bookcase, rearrange the rooms, and wash the new bedding. All that and we were still able to go to bed by 3am!
Waking up without children bouncing on us was a very weird experience. You'd think that we'd want to enjoy the quiet morning, leisurely sipping hot coffee and reading the newspaper uninterrupted, but we were too anxious to get the kids and bring them home. You see... they knew nothing about our redecorating plans. All of this was a total surprise.
We played it cool when we got home. Adrian went upstairs first and convinced T to tag along with him. We figured that it would be best to let T see the changes first—giving him a chance to react in his own laid-back way. We knew that if Oo was the first one to see the bedrooms there would be so much squealing and jumping around that we wouldn't really get to hear T's reaction to the whole thing.
We videotaped the kids' reactions (darn cute footage), but ARGGG! our video camera is not compatible with our laptop—a frustrating discovery I made this week. Alas, since I cannot show you the video as I had planned, I took some pictures yesterday. I hope the pics will give you an idea of how thrilled they were to see their new rooms.
The picture below is T standing in front of his new "Book Club." He always refers to Oo's bookcase as her "Book Club" (which drives Oo nuts), and now he has a Book Club of his very own. A decorating aside: the curtains were purchased at Ikea eight years ago, and the striped canvas bins were purchased at Target this week. A perfect match. What amazing luck!
T insisted I take the following picture of him playing with his moose, named Chocolate.
And below is T on his big-boy bed. He's excited about it, but he's a little worried about his crib, which we put in the attic before we brought the kids home. "Where'd my crib go? I think it went up into the sky!" Is he talking about a crib heaven??
In the picture there are two sharks. On the pillow is T's shark, Speeka. While Adrian and I were shopping for Oo's new bedding and curtains, etc., we began to feel like T was getting short-changed, so we bought him a stuffed animal—a shark that is a much bigger version of Speeka. T has named the new shark... you're not going to believe this... Big Speeka. The shark was definitely THE highlight of the new decor as far as T is concerned.
Below is a picture of T and Oo wearing "hats."
And now for Oo's room! Oo's new bed is a twin-sized mid-loft. A two-rung ladder on the side gets her up to her bed. The ladder has proven to be a major source of entertainment for the kids. Up the ladder. Down the ladder. Up the ladder. Down the ladder. Up the ladder. You get the picture.
We put the bed where her Book Club used to be. The loft fits very nicely there and, despite it's height, it doesn't make her room feel crowded. The empty curtain rod on the wall is where a quilt used to hang. I'll be moving the quilt over to another wall and hanging her name alongside her bed. Like her tiara? She insisted on wearing it for these pictures.
Below is Oo with her books. I confess... I posed her for this picture. She doesn't normally rest her feet on the ottoman. She'd much rather use it as a step stool to help her reach the fragile keepsakes we keep on top of her dresser.
The next picture shows the play space below Oo's bed. We outfitted it with a few floor pillows and a small table and lamp. I have sheer, sparkly, hot pink curtains to hang across the opening; I just need to fire up the ol' sewing machine (yuck!) to hem the bottoms. I also need to hem her new window curtains—they match her bedspread.
Aside from the kids' total surprise and delight with their rooms, there have been a few reactions that we were not expecting. The first of these is that the kids don't crawl into our bed in the middle of the night, every night. In the past week, Oo and T have only had one instance each of sneaking into our bed. Are they more comfortable in their new beds? Do they think our bed is lame compared to theirs? I don't know; I don't care. I'm just glad I'm not getting kicked and elbowed in the head every morning.
The next reaction we weren't expecting is that both kids are sleeping later. On Friday, T didn't get up until 8:15. EIGHT FIFTEEN!! This from the child who used to be happy to start his day at 5:30.
Another unforeseen reaction: T doesn't want to be rocked at bedtime anymore. When we rearranged T's room, Adrian wanted to put the rocking chair in the attic. The sentimental mom in me crumbled when I heard this. So much baby-mom bonding happened in that chair. Many bottles were fed while mom and baby locked eyes with each other. Slow rocking and lullabies ended every evening for the past five years. Many long, middle-of-the-night wakings were toughed out in that chair. Boo-boos and upset stomachs were soothed away with big hugs and rocking in that chair. A library full of books were read in that chair. I wasn't ready to put the chair in the attic. Uh-uh. No way.
But I guess I'll have to part with the chair soon anyway. Not only does T not want to rock to sleep in it, he doesn't want to read bedtime stories in it anymore either. Right after brushing his teeth, he climbs into bed and asks me to turn out the light. All T needs at night is Purple Bunny, Speeka, and Big Speeka, snuggled up with him in his tiny little bed. It's amazing to see him suddenly so independent.
It is also amazing that the kids are able to sleep so soundly. You would think they'd be roused by Adrian and I tip-toeing into their rooms over and over again to see how content and cute they look sleeping in their new beds. Hmmm... I wonder if I could take some pics to show you...
"Zzzzzzzz... BRIGHT FLASH! Waaaaaaah!! What was that? Mom, that scared me! I need to sleep in your and daddy's bed!"
Um, yeah. Sorry. Those pics aren't going to happen.
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