Growing up right before my eyes...

NewBed
Originally uploaded by nylonthread

Friday was a little hectic, as I knew that the new mattress set had been delivered during the day (thanks to Grandma Sheila for receiving it!!) AND the delivery guys had taken away Rosie's crib mattress. Therefore, I needed to build that bed before bedtime or Rosie would be sleeping in our bed.

I was only hoping that we had the right hardware (or the delivery peeps left it), as, like a dork, I hadn't checked specifically for any beforehand. AJS and I set the kids up with a movie, then got to work rearranging the room and dismantling the toddler bed. Miraculously, I found the bed-rail pieces that I'd stored and the necessary hardware high on a shelf where I'd left it when the bed was originally delivered 2.5 years ago?!? and 1.5 hours later, the bed was complete.

Hey, ho... what about dinner? um, didn't you call for Chinese? no, I thought you were going to... 9:00 p.m. hungry Strings sit down for food. And the verdict is: ROSIE LOVES HER NEW BED!! In fact, we all do. She has set some ground rules, though. Dash is the only one of us who can sleep with her (and he really only played with the concept before asking to go back in his crib).

As for the emotionally growing up part of this tale, after reading/seeing news items about the horrific Mount Pleasant fires this past week, I gave Rosie the idea that we should donate some of her toys to the poor young families--mostly immigrants from El Salvador--that lost everything in the fires (read: reduce clutter in her much more crowded room). Rosie seemed okay with this in conversation, but I wasn't sure how the reality of it would go.

Saturday, while she was at ballet class, I went through her room and emptied out all her toy bins (firstly, I just bagged all the tiny-plastic-crap toys), and arranged all her stuffed animals in bins by type (bears, bunnies/monkeys, cats/dogs, birds/horses, and other). Later on, after I was sure she had a satisfying dinner and was in a pretty good mood, we went through her stuff.

When all was said and done, Rosie GAVE AWAY OVER 1/3 OF HER TOYS!!!

OMG, I am so proud! What a big, darling girl of mine!

We loaded three trashbags of plush into the car Sunday morning (along with some baby blankets, towels, and a bag of 2T boys clothing) and headed over to Don Juan's in Mount Pleasant, where they would take our donation to the displaced families. On our way back, we drove past the burnt church on 16th Street (the apartment buildings on Mount Pleasant Rd. were still blockaded) and Rosie got to see the blackened hulks for herself.

I bought her some ice cream for being such a generous soul.