“Every morning there were the dishes to wipe.
Mary wiped more of them than Laura because she was bigger,
but Laura always wiped carefully her own little cup and plate.
By the time the dishes were all wiped and set away,
the trundle bed was aired. Then standing one on each side of the bed,
Laura and Mary straightened the covers, tucked them in well at the foot and the sides,
plumped up the pillows and put them in place.
Then Ma pushed the trundle bed into it’s place under the big bed.”
Little House in the Big Woods
When the need to move the five children around to change for Leia moving into the nursery crib, we quickly realized that our current bed situation wasn’t going to work. Little Lovelyn (2) was not ready to be alone in a big room by herself in the one last remaining unused bed.
We have a four bedroom home but quite often now, one room sits empty for all the little [four] girls like to sleep together in the one bedroom, with Leia in the nursery. It’s rather cute and heart warming to tuck the four girls in together at night … we certainly didn’t mind putting Lovie in with the sisters to sleep but our problem came when we didn’t want to buy bunk beds (yet) and there was no room in the Girl Room for another bed for one more body.
After reading a few Little House on the Prairie books this past year, we realized the Ingalls had the answer … a trundle bed!
It rolls right under the bed in the morning or stays put if everyone wants to use it for a reading area.
We [and I say we meaning my husband, who creatively came up with the design] made it to fit a crib sized mattress, which we were able to purchase from a friend who no longer needed their mattress.
Perfect!
All of the girls can fit on the trundle bed, but it was specifically made for Lovelyn, so she could sleep in the big Girl Room with her sisters. For the first little while, the girls all took turns sleeping one night in the new sleeping quarters for fun.
Sometimes I hear parents stating that they don’t have enough room in their house for more children and while I know that can certainly be the case in many situations, sometimes just a little creativity can go a long way. I personally don’t believe children need to each have their own room [if you are married, you share a room, right?].
I shared a room with my sister for years as a child and it never irritated me. In fact, I loved having someone else in the room as it always took me a long time to fall asleep and knowing she was there was a comfort to me. Now, I see a friendship and a bond forming between my girls with this opportunity to share their bedroom … they help the little one make her bed and when it comes time to tidy the room, it gets tidied fast because there are so many helping hands! 🙂 [It also means less room for ‘junk’ as I cannot store toys under the bed anymore … bonus. 🙂 ]
And now, Lovelyn has a place to lay her head.
by Gigi
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