Big Boy Bed

We have two weeks left in Brazil, and we pack out next Monday. I took advantage of a three-day weekend (not uncommon in Brazil in November) to do some disassembling in advance of the movers’ arrival. One of the victims of my phillip’s head screwdriver and allen wrench was Pete’s crib. I had requested two twin mattresses from work, one to replace Sam’s toddler bed that we sold and the other for Petey. For most of the next two months, he would be sleeping on a twin mattress on the floor in Nanny’s house or at Ma and Grandad’s, so I figured now would be as good a time as any to get him accustomed to his newfound freedom.

Pete being Pete, I don’t think he ever really realized what I was doing in his room as I took the screws from his crib and the sides rails down. I don’t think he noticed he had a big boy bed….really, just a mattress on a floor, for now….until it was bedtime. We brushed teeth and read one book on the floor. Then, Sam bounced onto his bed, and Pete crawled trepidatiously up onto the mattress, telling Elise who sat at the foot of the bed, “But I need those things in there that go up on the sides.” He meant the side rails, leaning against the wall in the living room next to the day bed.

We lingered in their room longer than usual and left the lights on so they could read books for a few minutes, Pete getting used to the view without the bars. He slowly realized the gift he had been given, when he had finished the book he was reading and Sam had just finished the one he wanted to read next. He flashed Elise mischievous eyes that said, “Look what I’m about to do” and slinked from bed, padded across the room and got the book himself.

A few minutes later we left the room. I closed the door so they wouldn’t wake Clementine and told them I’d come check on them in a minute. A few minutes later, when I returned to turn off the light, I turned the door knob to their room and heard the slap of tiny soles sprint across the room.

The next morning, Clementine and I were in the kitchen eating breakfast when the door opened. It was Sam, as usual, and….Pete. Before this morning, it would have only been Sam and I would have had to ask him, “Is Pete awake?” But this morning, they were both there, and Pete’s eyes and smile again said, “Look at me. I got out of my bed myself.”

Earlier in the day, Sam and I were practicing reading using the magnetic alphabet on the refrigerator. Every time he spelled a word right he got a cookie. He read ‘spoon’ and ‘fork’ when Pete wanted in on the game. I put ‘S-A-T’ on the refrigerator with Sam sounding out the consonants, “Esssss….Aaaaaa….Tu….tu….”. Pete blurts out, “Unicorn!” 

Oh, Pete.