What is it about Ikea that makes the (relatively) frugal abandon all frugality and spend like the credit card is expiring, like, tomorrow? Is it the Swedish meatballs? Is it the fun Swedish product names? Is it the awe-inspiring shopping cart escalators??
We headed down to Ikea on Saturday for our annual "Aaron just got his bonus, yippee, let's go to Ikea!!" shopping trip, and we had the best intentions. Really, we did---we had a list! And a plan!! We had planned to just get the essentials--some storage boxes that would fit in our living room coffee table, a table large enough to accommodate our mail and a small shredder (since handling and organizing mail seems to be an issue in our household), and a small toy box for the toys that migrate from Grace's room to the living room (new rule--all toys that are kept in living room must fit in toy box or they must go back to bedroom). Oh, and we did end up buying all of those things. We also bought this:
Yep, we bought Grace a new bed. And a shell-shaped light. And a frilly, castle-like curtain thing for above her bed.
We hadn't even intended on visiting the children's section at Ikea this weekend, but we were drawn in somehow. It all started when we were attempting to scuttle Grace AWAY from the children's section but the sounds of kids playing on the little tables and chairs and crawling around in the little tents soon drew Grace in, and before we knew it, Aaron and I were both eyeing the furniture and the bedding and considering how this stuff might look in our house. And then I saw this pretty little bed and thought, "Really, how practical IS it that Grace has a queen-sized bed? She's four! Surely a twin bed would be a much better option for her! Perhaps her recent sleep issues are all because she's in such a BIG bed all by herself and she feels lost in it! This could be the answer to our prayers! And it looks like a princess bed! I could sell this to her as a princess bed, and surely she will want to spend all night in it!!" And then I showed the bed to Aaron, and he was all like, "Huh, think of the space we would save with having a smaller bed in her room! We would ACTUALLY have room for all of her toys here in her room, and we wouldn't have to keep some in the living room! You are truly wise, wife of mine!!"
We showed the bed to Grace who immediately saw the princess-ness of it, and oh! What about the pretty castle-like curtain for around the bed?!? Look at those shell lights! They most definitely fit with the Little Mermaid motif that we already have going in her room! And, Grace assured us that she would absolutely, positively spend the entire night sleeping in her bedroom if she could have this bed. Problem solved!!
And so, we bought the bed and Aaron spent yesterday afternoon putting the bed together and then Grace and I got it all prettified with her new princess sheets and her other princess paraphenalia. Then each of us rolled around on the new bed for a while, marveling at how comfortable and cute it is!! Grace even went to bed so easily last night that I was sure that all of our sleep problems were behind us. This whole new bed idea was a stroke of genius!!
I'm sure those of you who are parents and who are clearly smarter than me can tell me what happened next...she was awake less than two hours after she fell asleep, wanting to come and sleep in our room. And instead of having a spacious queen-sized bed to soothe her in, I had to wedge my way into this twin-sized bed with her and try to find a comfortable position in which I could rub her back and stroke her hair and wait for her to fall back asleep. Two hours LATER, she was back in her little bed that we have stationed on our bedroom floor. Sigh.
At least we DO have more space in her room for her stuff, and the new toy box and mail table look pretty darn good in our living room. Anyone need a queen-sized bed?
Surprising no one
9 years ago
2 comments:
Heh. At our house we've been struggling too -- but with getting the girls to sleep nicely together in one bed. Pebbles wants to sleep with her sister in the worst way, but once her sister finally consents and we tuck them in together, the little one is always keeping the big one awake and soon ends up getting out of bed altogether. We'll hear Nutmeg yelling at her: "Get back in BED!"
And yes, Nutmeg still comes into our bed after midight each night. We have a king-sized bed and we're fine with it. We figure that she will stop when she's ready, even if that's not for a few years yet. What I DON'T know is if Pebbles will start coming in to us once she's not in a crib anymore, and how spacious that big bed will feel if we have 2 kids with us and an infant besides. My theory was always that Nutmeg and Pebbles will keep each other company and won't need to come in to us, but ... we'll see.
Yeah, part of me is just thinking that we're gonna have to let her do this whole sleeping alone in her room thing when she's ready instead of forcing it. I mean, she's 4. She's not 18. It's just gonna be extra cozy in our room for a while once Tater arrives. :-)
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