His Milestone, Or Mine?

Last night something happened. Something I've been thinking about - almost dreading - for months now. Jamie lowered the crib and took one side of the rails off. Brandon was suddenly the proud owner of "a big boy bed". His crib had transformed into a toddler bed.

Over this past weekend, Brandon had been getting out of his crib with seemingly no effort at all. There was no falling or crashing to the ground (like how I imagined it would happen) just simply longer legs that could now swing over the top rail and deliver him to the ground. Jamie and I knew it was time to put him into a toddler bed and after some discussion, thought he would love a bed shaped like a car. But after hours of trying to organize a deal on Kijiji we gave up and decided to lower his crib.
When Brandon saw it, he was ecstatic! He was so excited for his big boy bed. When it was time to turn in, he seemed a little overwhelmed. He kept asking where the rails had gone. It wasn't long though before sleepiness took over and he drifted off to dreamland.

I didn't sleep though. I couldn't shake the feeling that everything had changed. Sure it's been almost three years but I wondered where the time had gone. How is it that my little boy no longer needed his crib? The truth was, he would never sleep in a crib again. Like the end of an era, we'd reached a new stage.
The next day I got an unexpected text from Jamie. As he was driving home from work, he spotted a car bed on someone's lawn with a free sign stuck to it. Jamie scooped it up and, after cleaning it off, put it in Brandon's room. If Brandon was excited before, he was now over the moon! He almost hovered three feet off the ground all evening just from sheer excitement. I'm happy for him. It seems like the perfect bed for him.

Jamie and I dismantled the crib for good and unceremoniously shoved it in a corner somewhere. This time I wasn't sad though. I had had my moment to reflect on Brandon's babyhood and realized it's time to look ahead and continue to enjoy the present ("the now") with him. I love how he changes all the time. I love seeing the wonder of the world through his eyes. I love how he wants to be big. I love that he's still not - at least not yet.