We finally manned up as parents and decided that it is time to take our ALMOST THREE YEAR OLD out of her crib.
(Pause to let the gasps of horror echo dramatically.)
I know, I know – we should have done it long ago. But:
a) she LOVES her crib – so why rock the boat?
b) We have hardwood stairs, so we wanted to make sure to wait until we didn’t have to worry about her going down them if she got up in the middle of the night, and
c) there hasn’t been a younger sibling to kick her out of the crib, which is pretty much the default reason that everyone I know transitions their kids to beds.
So. Ali and I went shopping for Big Girl Beds yesterday.
But I’m afraid taking her with me on this shopping excursion might have set me up to be quite the disappointment as a big-girl-bed-providing-mother.
Because her attention went straight for beds like the enchanted pumpkin carriage bed:
(Her argument, of course, was that if she slept in the magical pumpkin which took Cinderella to the dreamy ball in her pretty blue dress which “The prince didn’t tear off of her, did he, Momma?”, she’d most definitely quit having those recurring nightmares* about the sisters tearing Cinderella’s pretty PINK dress off. I MEAN – how could you have bad dreams in THIS bed, Mom?!?!)
My argument, however, is that no sixteen year old girl still wants to be sleeping in a carriage bed, so it seems rather impractical to buy, despite the potential bad dream removal.
*And yes, she’s STILL dreaming about all that. She woke up screaming a few times the other night, and then the next day, she informed my friend Nikki, “We’re NOT going to talk about Cinderella at lunch today.”
Anyway. Back to the beds that my daughter will never get.
She especially liked the playhouse-with-a-slide bed:
Seriously – what kid would actually SLEEP when they had a slide hooked up to their bed?!?!
And just about as sleep-inducing of a bed named by Ali as “The House Bed”:
I WOULD say that they make these beds for older kids that would still lay down and go to sleep responsibly even when faced with endless entertainment (ha), but the tunnel on this one is barely big enough for Ali to squeeze through, so apparently, some toddler somewhere will actually REST in a bed like this.
Or not, and some Mom somewhere is beating her head against the wall, saying “Why oh WHY DID I BUY THEM A BED THAT THEY CAN PLAY IN!?!?!??!”
Of course, if Daddy had been with us, he’d have tried to talk Ali into this bed:
I know – ONLY in Alabama could football passions run so deeply. Yeesh.
At any rate, I am afraid that I have set Ali up to think of this when I say “Big Girl Bed”,
And she’s going to be sorely disappointed when she gets something more along the lines of this:
Unless her Daddy reads this post. At which point he will melt in all of his Daddy-wrapped-around-his-little-girl’s-finger softness, and will go buy her that crazily impractical carriage bed.
Oh my, look at all those fun beds! I had a French Provencial canopy bed as a little girl. It was sweet! My parent's friend Bob always threatened to steal it! Your baby looks pretty cute in the carriage bed…c'mon Mom!
Good news! You can make a canopy veil type thingy to go over her regular bed (or you can just buy it) and she will have the princess feel without the princess cost! They sell those things (or have directions for making them) all over the internet. Good luck on this new adventure.;)
Joe has a bed made of baseball bats that is totally hid Daddy's doing. We weren't even shopping for beds. We just wandered into RTG and Jason saw it and had to have it. Joe wasn't even with us!
Had he seen the AL bed, I'm sure we would have it. Joe would die a thousand deaths at an ALABAMA bed!
OMG, keep the pic of that Cinderella bed away from my kid, okay? That's all I need. We've been searching for a "big girl bed" (as opposed to her current toddler bed) and I'm amazed at the elaborate beds out there. Do real people truly buy that stuff?
Like this one: http://www.justkidsbeds.com/Tradewins-DHB-600-XS1717-TWN1070.html
While I can appreciate its whimsy, is it practical? & who has a bedroom large enough for the bed and still have room to walk around?
I vote for the totally normal yet cute white bed. Then get her a fairy canopy to go over it such as:
http://www.amazon.com/NetGift-35535-Butterfly-Bed-Canopy/dp/B000YOG51U/ref=pd_sim_dbs_t_1
It is under $10 and will magically transform the plain bed into a palanquin fit for a princess! I'll come help you fancify it with more ribbons and sass!! Think of the fun craft store visit!
Spend the money on a comforter she really likes and get the totally adorable in itself "plain white" bed
Holy cow! I have NEVER seen such elaborate beds before! Seriously, K would never fall asleep in those playground looking beds!
The princess one IS awfully cute, but I am all about practicality so I could never buy it. :) we got a hand me down bed from T's sister and K is just lucky that it is pretty darn cute. :)
Oh, and we would totally keep K in her crib for as long as possible if we didn't need it for #2, she's never tried to climb out, and I agree about not rocking the boat!
PLEASE Mom? Please?!! Let me… I mean Ali have the Princess Carriage bed. It is SOOOOO pretty!
I would love to sleep in a bed like the carriage bed.It's so pretty.:)
The carriage bed is so cool, just perfect for a princess such as Ali!
Can't believe people actually buy their children beds that have slides and tunnels attached to them…how dumb!
Ok, now you've got me. That Carriage Bed is screaming buy me! Rooms to Go here I come! (lol) Jenna and Ali are the same age and Jenna is still in her crib, but in the "daybed" setup. She's only got about 4 more inches and she'll be too long for it. She will probably end up with something like the white one as well, unless the same thing happens with my husband.
I'm with Marie. If your hubby is handy he can make a canopy to go over the normal big girl bed.
My kids love shopping for bedrooms too! Of course, they have just a standard bed and frame, but it's fun to imagine. There's the boy's room decorated in skateboards, and of course the girl's room decorated in all things princess. I have the exact same shot of my daughter unable to leave the canopy beds!
That exact princess carriage bed is what I bought my 3 year old. I did, however, buy it “used” from a model home, slight dings on the furniture but nobody ever actually used it. We got the entire room for $800, so not bad.
I love this bed….is the quality good? I cant see it in person so I can only go by the pictures???
I don’t know – we didn’t buy it. Sorry!