Dearest Daughters,
I might be in denial, but let me just say this: it was your daddy's suggestion!
I mentioned last week that Danjo seemed ready to transition to a Big Girl Bed. On several occasions you have asked to go "ni ni," Lovey and Baby tucked under your arms, pointing or pulling my arm out of it's socket in the direction of your bed. Even when you verbally protest the notion of sleep, as soon we enter your room, you're eager to get into bed. And you snuggle in, your legs tucked beneath you, your head burrowing into your requisite blankies and lovies.
Since you girls were headed out of town to visit your cousins, your daddy suggested we get new beds for you this weekend.
I've been keeping a Pinterest board of decorating and layout ideas for your room since forever, trying to figure out the best way to aesthetically fit two beds into one small room. I was determined to NOT be manic-ly impulsive about this, so the planning continued (per Lola's suggestion) with a scaled diagram of your room. And teeny tiny pieces of furniture cut from paper, also to scale. No, this isn't manic at all. I'll tell you what it is: anal.
Then, the real adventure began!
On Saturday, having planned and prepared myself, your Daddy and I set out for IKEA. And guess, what? I wast TOTALLY fine. No anxiety. No panic.
WAHOO FISH TACOS! as I like to say.
I find that if I actually want to do something (and prepare for the situation as well as for the possibility that the situation might not go as planned), it's not so bad. I'm finding ways to deflate the pressure from anxiety-filled activities.
And, hooey, for now, for the stuff I don't want to do! Baby steps, right?
After IKEA, we hit up Best Buy, Home Depot and (even!) went out to lunch at your daddy's fav-o: Taco Bell! (This is not a Dearest Daughters endorsement of the preceding stores. This list serves only to blow your mind at the number of crowded places I rode in a car to and maintained my sanity in. Over and out.)
AND THEN: two days of spray painting and assembling new furniture. Whew!
I got in way over my head. Also, did you know that you can buy an ergonomic attachment for spray paint cans? No? Me neither, twenty cans and two sore hands later.
So, I was perpetually doing all weekend, but I wouldn't say I was manic. In fact, painting and assembling, were in many ways meditative and mindful. I wasn't busy worrying or over-thinking as I sprayed and screw-drivered. I was present with my sore hands and stubbed toes. I wasn't doing from a place of mania or as a coping mechanism, in order to avoid feeling. I was doing on my own terms, because I wanted to, not because I should or because I felt compelled.
And from a good place, comes good stuff! Or viceversa.
So far, the reviews are good. Bel was so excited. You bounded up onto your bed and began a five-minute run-on sentence of love for your new accommodations: "I just love this and it is the best bed ever and my bed is a spaceship and my spaceship is a bed and I love it."
Danjo took some convincing, but once I told you it was your bed, you climbed right in and snuggled up the way you do at bed time. You haven't figured out how to climb into your sister's bed yet and I'm not encouraging it, but I give it three days.
And someone else wanted to show off his new Big Boy backpack. From IKEA, of all places!
Now, for a week of rest and recovery! And, maybe, just maybe, another adventure or two.
Love,
P.S. For curious minds:
Reversible loft beds (x2) - IKEA Kura - disclosure: you're supposed to be 6 to sleep on the lofted bed, so I don't endorse letting your three year old up there. But Bel's super mature. She's like fifteen in Bel Years, so I lofted her bed.
Curtains and duvets - IKEA Renate Flora
Dresser - IKEA Hemnes
Floating shelves - IKEA Lack
Table and chairs - thrifted
Wall paint - Kelly Moore Bird Bath Blue #KM3138-1
Wall clouds - fabric I cut out, applied with homemade starch
P.P.S. I wish I had a Before picture, but to tell you the truth, that room has undergone so many different configurations from one child to two, toys stored in the room and not, furniture found, borrowed, bought and given away! But, here's a photo of the room from before we moved into the house, featuring tiny sixteen-month-old Baby Bel:
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