Milestones

All of a sudden, the milestones are passing in a frenzy. I barely have time to acknowledge one before another one zips past me! This past month has been big for Jackson: he’s officially potty trained (There wasn’t much training to it; he just did it and we moved on!), he turned four, and then a BIG milestone tonight. Jackson’s sleeping in a big boy bed for the first time! (I don’t count the toddler bed at Grandma’s.)

As I snuggled with him and read a bedtime story (I picked Love You Forever, of course! Why not add some tears to the bittersweet moment?!), I realized a special “last” slipped by me on Friday night. It was the last time I rocked him before bed, because Saturday night was spent at Grandma’s house. And then another realization hit me: this is the same bed my brother slept in until the last year of his life. Aw, man! Add some more emotion to this night, why don’t ‘cha?!

No matter what amount of bittersweet emotion I attach to this milestone, my son Jackson’s joy could not be contained. He was so excited to have a new bed. Here’s a photo of him showing the bed to his sister. He kept saying, “This is cool! My new bed is cool!”

Almost exactly eight years ago, we put the crib together in that room in preparation for Katie’s arrival. It hasn’t moved since. In fact, it’s still assembled in Jackson’s room as a threat to keep him in his bed tonight. I think we won’t need it much longer, because he is so proud of his new digs.