Not too long ago my mother decided to clear out some
stuff. One of the ‘stuff’ happened to be
a crib she had purchased in case small wayward children appeared on her
doorstep in need of a nap. As we have
small wayward children who are constantly in need of naps, not to mention a
couple of adults, she offered it up to us.
Now like most cribs these days, the crib converts into a
toddler bed, as well as a headboard for a full sized bed. After some discussion between the hubby and
I, it was decided that when we switched Davey’s old crib for the new one, we
would convert it to the toddler bed.
Seemed reasonable enough.
Not being total idiots, we prepared for all kinds of
situations. The lower trundle from the
day bed was ready to be pulled out for falling Daveys, a gate was in the wings
waiting for wandering Daveys, a general plethora of plans were created and
rehearsed for every conceivable emergency that man or beast could possibly
generate.
The first couple of nights went smoothly. No falling out of bed, no aimless wandering
in the wee hours of the night. All
seemed at peace in slumber land. Then
sure enough, the first rolling-out-of-bed occurred. I heard the thumb followed by the cry. Sure that he had been up and playing, I
opened the door to find a rather disheveled sleepy eyed and uncertain little
boy. He had managed to roll himself
halfway across the room before I got to him.
Hugs and kisses along with whispered reassurances were administered. Once safely tucked back in bed, I dragged out
the lower trundle.
The next week I noticed the strange phenomenon that occurred
after I would tuck him in for the night.
We always check on the kids before we go to bed. Usually this in pretty uneventful. But I began noticing that when I would look
in on Davey, it was becoming increasingly more difficult to find him. By the end of the week I realized this was
due to the number of stuffed animals that were making their way into his bed. Apparently after I would leave his room, he
was waiting a bit then carefully getting out of bed and gathering all his
stuffed animals into bed with him. He
would then burrow underneath them along with the blankets. Davey-flage so to speak. Even so, bedtime in the new bed was not all
that traumatic.
Then it happened….Christmas day 2012.
After a rather hectic and exciting couple of days, we hit Christmas day. My parents had come up to have
Christmas. After meltdown #300+, both
kids were tucked into their beds for a much needed nap. All was quiet while the adults sat in the
kitchen, eating cookies and talking.
Eventually I heard a small voice crying out. After determining that yes, the small voice
was indeed real, and that no, the small voice was not going to stop anytime
soon. Resignedly I headed to the source
of the cry.
The room was dark so I was not too concerned when I couldn’t
make out the small boy attached to the cry.
All I heard was a rather pathetic “STUCK STUCK STUCK!”. After a moment I turned on the light. Still no sign of the small boy. “WTH?” I wondered. Then it occurred to me he had probably fallen
between the bed and the trundle. Nope-
nothing. That is when I saw it…a tiny
arm waiving out from under the bed skirt on the toddler bed.
I suppose I should mention that this bed has a board that
runs underneath it for support.
Apparently Mister D had managed not only to roll out of bed and land
between the trundle and the toddler bed, but in his sleepy state he rolled over
the board and was now, for all practical purposes, stuck.
I would like to say that being a kind and loving mommy, I
was horrified and leaped to his aide, wrenching the treacherous bed apart,
freeing the poor boy from his horrific trap.
But no…instead I burst out laughing hysterically. Eventually I managed to call my husband to
come lift the bed, but in the meantime Davey had managed to figure out how to
escape with no help from his beloved mommy.
Needless to say he was a wee bit suspicious that evening when bedtime
came around. Now the stuffed animals are
appearing on the trundle bed, carefully placed to block small sleeping boys
from being sucked into the depths of the child eating toddler bed.
Note: Mommy has carefully placed pillows in front
of the evil board on the off chance that the stuffed animals are unable to
protect the small sleeping boy. Mommy
also makes sure the monster under the bed, as well as the troll in the basement
closet, is well fed. This should keep
the boy from being eaten…at least not completely.
