As I sit down to write this post, I’m in a laugh/cry mood. You know? Laughing so hard that it turns into a sobbing, ugly cry? Hilarity that turns into wanting to drive your car off a bridge? Yes, that.

Today started off like any other day. Joe got the idea that it was the right day for Abs to start sleeping in a bed. After our first daughter, I vowed to keep Abs in a crib until high school, but sure, today, at not even 2 1/2 years old, it was worth a try.

Before her nap, we set up the toddler bed we had tucked away. She got such a kick out of it and was thrilled to try it out. After lunch, without incident, she napped for 2 hours in her new bed. She woke up crying, but that’s nothing new. All afternoon, she went on and on about her ‘Big girl bed’ and seemed so excited.

I kept them up a bit later, trying to make sure they were sufficiently tired, since bedtime is rarely smooth or easy anymore. We went upstairs, and M was thrilled for her sister. “Isn’t this so exciting? You get to sleep in a bed tonight!” “Mom, I’ll help if she wakes up at night. Maybe she’ll come lay down with me.” Really cute stuff.

M went down easily. Abs did not. Long story short, she wouldn’t even sit in her bed. I know most parents go through this at some point, and I don’t think this part was out of the ordinary at all. However…

We let this go on for more than an hour. Instead of dealing with sleepless nights and midnight visits, we decided it was early enough to set the crib up again. M asked what was going on and completely freaked out.

“This bed is so dear to me.” “I’m going to miss this bed so much.” “Can you take a picture of me in the bed before you move it?” “Can you take a picture of the spot where the bed used to be?” “Can we keep the bed out and just use it as a decoration?”

And so on.

For the entire 20 minutes that it took us to reassemble the crib, she went on about the stupid bed. She is a sweet girl. She gets easily attached. No logical explanation will work. So she hasn’t seen this bed in 2 years, and only saw it for 5 or 6 hours today. Doesn’t matter. She and the stinking bed were new BFFs and I tore them apart. We both lost it. First, we tried to be firm. “M, stop whining about the bed. We understand that you like it, but Abs isn’t ready for it yet. We aren’t listening to another word about the bed.” Then we couldn’t stop laughing. “Can you at least print out a picture of me with the bed so I can remember it?” Then I got stuck inside the crib while I was helping Joe assemble it. I was holding pieces in place from the inside, and he built it around me. I had to shimmy out the bottom like a fat lady doing the limbo. On a carpet. I got a rug burn.

In the end, I sat with M to help her sleep, because she was devastated about the bed. Abs still wouldn’t sleep, but at least we could leave the room and know she wasn’t running around laughing at our efforts.

I took pictures. Stay tuned for Wordless Wednesday. It will be well worth it!