Congratulations to the Giants: Both Big (oh, so big) and Small

Congratulations are extended to giants of many sorts and sizes today:

To the New York Giants -- Yes, I watched the Super Bowl. I can't remember the last time I watched it, but as I watched I couldn't remember the reason why I don't watch football. It really is quite an exciting game. Last night's squabble over a ball was fairly slow-moving at first but that fourth quarter ... wow, what a show. It was fun, watching that clock tick down from 2 minutes, to 1 minute, to mere seconds ... an unexpected touchdown, a mad rush by the Patriots to move back up the field, 10 seconds ... a few incomplete throws, some great defense, 1 second, a stopped clock ... ( at one second?) ... a few minutes of bizarre confusion, a losing couch storming off the field ...

Very, very fun.
Congratulations, New York.

And now on to another field, with another (tiny) giant:
Grace tackling her own situation ...
Trying to sleep in a big girl bed.

I should really give this up, this believing in myself, this crazy thinking that I know my kids. I was so sure it was THE right time to move her from the crib. I obsessed about it, I blogged about it, I talked to a few friends with kids this age. And when I get something in my craw I just do it. And it's great.

Well ... so much for that.

We dismantled the crib (thankfully I kept my emotions in check -- I think if it wasn't such a pain in the neck, working in such a cramped, small room, I would have been a blubbering mess), and then set to work putting the bunk bed back together. It looked great -- it really did. The room feels much more open, less cluttered. The kids had a blast climbing in and out of it, and we outdid ourselves trying to "talk it up," trying to get her excited about the prospect. She seemed OK ...

We let the kids stay up a bit longer last night, in part because Aidan was really into the game, and we also wanted to get Grace good and tired so she would just crash and not give us a hard time in her new bed. As the clock neared 8, we got the kids ready for bed. We did our usual nighttime routine (story, prayer, songs) in their room, I sitting on a chair and the kids cuddled in Grace's bed. They jumped out to kiss Daddy good-night and then ran back into their room. Grace climbed in her bed ...

... and said to me sadly, "I don't want this."

Oh, man. This is going to be fun.

Lots of tears from my sweet girl. She didn't know what to do with herself. She didn't like the pillow, having never used one before. She's a big-time cuddler, and there was too much space. She felt lost. The smart cookie remedied that, however, by climbing out of her bed (unbeknownst to me) and gathering some of her larger stuffed animals to fill in the empty spaces. But she cried. She protested. She sat in that little escape hole, between the protective side rail and the bunk bed's ladder, her legs hanging down off the side, her thumb in her mouth. "I can't," she said, tears streaming down her face.

My darling boy was a dream. He tried valiantly to help his sister, talking her through the experience, sharing stories of his own transition from crib to bed (this boy's memory is spooky). He even climbed down from the heights to stand by her side, rubbed her back, and sang a sweet lullaby to her, making up his own words as he went along to address the specific situation. He tried so hard. At last, 45 minutes later we heard an exasperated Aidan calling from the room, "I just do not know what to do with her anymore!"

Finally ... finally ... almost an hour and a half later Don went in to check on her.
"She's asleep," he told me, smiling.

Before I went to bed myself, I checked on the kids as I always do. I fixed Aidan's covers, I straightened him out (he's quite the thrasher). Then I saw my sweet girl, sleeping on her side, legs curled under her, surrounded by stuffed animals ... way down at the foot of the bed, where she would have been in her crib.

I guess I wasn't so sure after all. I was confident that the transition would be one of great ease, with no difficulty at all. She is one of the most laid-back kids I have ever encountered, and I did not anticipate her having a problem with this. I was wrong. I guess it could have been worse -- indeed, our endeavor to do this with Aidan at the age of two resulted in a week of absolute torture -- but it was hard for her, harder than I anticipated. Yet she did it. She slept. And she didn't wake up until 8:00 a.m.

So today is a new day, with its new challenges. I am dreading nap time this afternoon and I will keep my expectations basement-level-low so as not to be disappointed with how the day turns out. And I will keep telling myself that it will get better in time. So here we go ...

Congratulations to the big Giants (oh, so ridiculously big) for their even bigger win last night ...
and to little Gracie who battled her own giant last night and, finally, won.