My daughter turned 4 in January, and she's still sleeping in her crib. Before you ask (like everyone does when I mention this fact), no it's not one of those with a removable side, or one that converts into a toddler bed. It's a regular old, four-sided crib that she's slept in since the day she was born.
Why? Well, there's no real reason I suppose, just as there's been no real reason not to keep her in there. We have a "big girl" bed for her upstairs, and while it's taking me awhile to decorate her new room, she doesn't really have to wait for the curtains, artwork, and other decorative pieces to which I can't seem to commit. It's just been my most recent excuse as to why she's still in her crib.
For awhile it was about containment. She's a bit of a mischievous child, and when she was younger, there was no way I was going to attempt to fight the battle of keeping her in a bed. I can't even imagine the things she might have gotten into in the middle of the night. Now that she's older though, she climbs in and out of the crib on her own, so that reason has pretty much gone by the wayside as well.
Honestly, there just aren't any strong arguments as to why she shouldn't be in a crib, other than people think it's crazy that she's been in there so long. It's big enough for her (though it's getting tight), and she loves it. When I mention her big girl bed she gets excited about it for a bit, then her eyes tear up. "I'll miss my crib," she says.
So will I.
She's my youngest child, and I'm not really in a huge hurry to have her grow up too quickly. And for us, this is it; we'll never need a crib again. I'm not purposefully trying to keep her a baby, but she's so mature in so many ways, I'm not in a rush to push her into the "big girl" world when she's not rushing there at warp speed herself.
At least we ditched the pacifier — baby steps.
Image via Julie Ryan Evans
