Little Boy, Big Bed

Owen got a new bed today.  Okay, I know that some of you may think it's crazy that a 4 1/2 year old child was still sleeping in a toddler bed.  But he was happy in his little cocoon all this time.  Evan and Jenna slept in the very same toddler bed until they were just about 4 1/2 also.  That little bed has served our family well.  As we bid the toddler bed a fond farewell, so also goes the crib mattress that fit snugly inside the bed frame.  A crib mattress.  A mattress to go inside a crib.  A crib for a baby.  Three babies.  No longer babies but now 9 and 7 and 4 year old children.  No more babies.  But they will always be.  In my heart.  No matter that Evan now stands taller than my shoulders.  So.  Gone is the bed, gone is the little mattress, gone are the Elmo sheets and blanket (he's been telling me Elmo is for babies for quite some time now).  Gone are the spare crib sheets my Mom bought from Land's End 10 years ago when I was expecting Evan that I kept around just in case I needed them.  It's true, Mom, they were a good investment and the softest sheets my babies could have ever laid their sweet little heads upon.  In their place are colorful stripes or flowers, in Jenna's case.  A chapter has closed, finally, forever, with our family.

Before

After