When we announced to friends we were expecting a baby, we were flooded with good wishes … and hand-me-downs galore.
One especially generous couple gave us the convertible crib their own children had outgrown, saving us a bunch of money and kick-starting our work to transition "the junk room" into "the baby's room."
It's a lovely crib, and it has served us well for 2 1/2 years now. But, sadly, 7/8ths of it is wasted on Nora these days. When we put her to bed, we position her squarely in the middle of the mattress. But before we've even said our last goodnights and made it out the door, she's wriggled into her favorite position: completely perpendicular to the length of the mattress, smooshed against the headboard, her head wedged into one corner and her feet happily kicking away at the rail in the other corner.
The funny thing is, she can and does actually fall asleep that way -- with her legs straight up against the railing. After a while (sometimes a several-hour while), she'll finally stop blabbing and finally stop kicking and go quiet. Carefully, I open the door to check on her, and I find I have to open the door rather wide to see her. Opening just a crack shows just the middle and end of the bed -- and she ain't there.
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One of these days, we'll need to transition her crib to a big-girl bed, but I'm not quite sure how that's going to go. I'm not really worried that she'll be scared or fall out. I'm worried that I'll ease the door open to check on her and find that she's abandoned her bed completely in favor of wedging herself into one of the room's corners.
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