Princesses

For a Valentine's gift, we picked up Disney Princess sheets for the girls. Skip pushed for giving this one to them a few days early, and our house has been brimming with excitement since the beds were made this afternoon.

Sidebar: our almost 3 1/2 year olds are still in cribs. This has been somewhat controversial, as parents tend to fall into two camps here: those who move out of the crib early, and those who do not. (Admittedly, there is that unspoken third camp of we're-staying-in-way-too-long.) I remember reading about eliminating cribs at 18-20 months or so and thinking why in the world would a person do that? At 18 months, we felt like we had just assembled the thing. We certainly had just gotten accustomed to how they worked! Crib manufacturing and sales is a huge, HUGE industry, and some people invest significant dollars into decorating their nurseries. (We did not; our cribs, three in total, are on loan.) For those who do make the investment, it should be insulting that there is a group of experts advocating such a brief stint for that equipment.

The bottom line is that there are well-meaning, informed and competent folks who advocate being out of the crib by 2 years of age. That simply would have never worked for us for a number of reasons. 1) There are two of them. 2) We were blessed with a night owl and a morning person, meaning that a wild toddler would have been roaming the house between the hours of 5am and midnight each and every day. 3) There are two of them. 4) They share a room and would keep each other awake 'round the clock. 5) There are two of them.

Admittedly, we are pushing the envelope here, but we have not been braced for the chaos that will accompany transitioning to regular beds. We are getting mentally prepared for the move and are ready to begin shopping, but we're still in the cribs as of today's date. We can commit to being out of them before the girls start to school. Possibly sooner, but we're making no promises.

There are two of them.

Back to the gift, the store was out of the simple pack of pillow cases so we picked up the crib sheet and pillowcase for a few dollars more. The girls were absolutely giddy while their beds were being made. This set features the original three Princesses -- Cinderella, Belle and Aurora (their fav).

AURORA! Gracie shouts, "Dat's Sleeping Booty, mommy!"

They had the pillows on the floor, along with their Disney Princess sleeping bags, for much of the afternoon. Lauren, true to nature, allowed herself to enjoy the pillowcase for a full two minutes before asking, "Where is Snow White and Arial???" We often predict that Lauren will pursue a career as a lobbyist, and her ability to get on point and stay on point will be a tremendous asset.

So tonight we went through the usual routine. Instead of their post-dinner Sesame Street video, they played for an hour or so before we went upstairs to go to bed. Usually, at that point, they will plead to play more and read books. Tonight, while putting on pajamas, Lauren said, "I've played enough today, mommy. I'm ready for bed. Don't you, mommy?"