BIG

We had kind of built it up. "We are going to buy you a BIG boy bed!" Ignacio became increasingly excited over the coming days. As we headed to IKEA a bit too close to Ignacio's nap time I thought, "This is either going to go really good or really bad." I was so excited to see the little beds all set up for display with colorful comforters. Ignacio was more interested in the play area. Priceless. We quickly decided on one, went to the loading area where we hauled our big cardboard boxes of pieces onto the cart. (Ikea is famous for the "assemble yourself" motto.) Ignacio wailed the whole way home because he didn't believe there was a bed in all those boxes. Okay, maybe we had bought him a mattress but that is no bed. Given he was over-tired there was no convincing his two year old brain that the bed was in the boxes so we gave up half-way home. To top it all off he forgot his puppy stuffed animal while playing at the store and had a total meltdown after I had to break the news to him it was gone forever. Grief and loss at 2 is hard. Needless to say we made it home and later that afternoon Angel assembled the bed. Ignacio requested that we put it on our bed. Classic. Only Ignacio would want his bed IN our bed. We delighted in watching Ignacio's eyes light up at seeing his bed but I know in the back of our minds we were thinking, "...but is he going to SLEEP in it?" After pulling a "Supper Nanny" technique for 20 minutes my big boy was asleep in his big boy bed. He looked so BIG with his pillow and choo-choo blanket. I was going to take a picture of him but didn't want to risk waking him up! So, Angel and I are back to sleeping side-by-side and our nightmares of chasing Ignacio around the house every nap and bed time have been put to rest. He is going pee-pee in the toilet and sleeping in his own bed. Before I know it he will be picking me up from work to pick out the tux for his wedding. Although he is getting bigger, the diaper sticking out of his puppy pajamas and the Big Bird under his arm are a great reminder that he is still my little boy.