Now that Katrina was walking, talking, and abandoning the baby stage altogether, Joe figured it was time to move her out of her crib and into a proper bed. "Bon matin, ma fille," he said as he woke her up in the morning. "Aujourd'hui, nous conduirons au magasin de meubles." (Good morning, kiddo. Today, we're driving to the furniture store.)

"Huh?" Katrina didn't quite understand what was going on.

"Tu as besoin d'un lit. Tu es trop grande pour ton berceau." (You need a bed. You're too big for your crib.) Joe picked out some clothes for Katrina to wear. "On y va." (Let's go.)


At the furniture store, a fresh-faced high school-aged employee with a name tag reading "Madoka" directed the Beaufort family to the toddler section. "So, we have this little height chart to measure what size bed your little one needs." She directed Katrina to stand with her back against the chart. "Right. She'll need a medium toddler bed."

The three of them went over to look at some medium-sized beds. "Now, these are mostly the same size and build, just with different colours and themes." Madoka knelt down to Katrina's level. "See, we have a Dora bed, a My Little Pony bed, a princess bed…"

Katrina wandered in between the different beds, and pushed herself upwards onto a pink bed with a glittery paint finish and a Barbie theming. Then hopped back down. Then got back up. Then down again. Joe chuckled. "Je pense qu'elle aime ce lit." (I think she likes this bed.)

"So, little girl," said Madoka, "are you sure it's this one you want? We have a lot of others just like it, but with different styles." She showed Katrina a series of other adorable bed themes.

Katrina took a look at each bed in the show room, then went right back to the Barbie bed. "This one!"

Madoka laughed. "Toddlers. They're always the most stubborn, aren't they?" She turned to Joe. "We have a sale going on for toddler furniture. You can get this frame, plus a mattress bundled together for only 175$."

"Ooh." Joe nodded along. "Quelle affaire." (What a deal.)


At home, after getting everything they needed to redo Katrina's room, Joe took apart Katrina's old crib and stored the pieces in the basement, then brought in the new bedframe. "Peux-tu m'aider, ma belle?" (Can you help me, sweetie?)

Katrina held onto one side of the cotton candy pink sheets as Joe pulled it over the new mattress. Then she toddled over to the pile of blankets and pillows and climbed up onto the bed with her two pillows. She giggled as she rolled over on the mattress. Joe laughed as well. "Quelle grande fille." (What a big girl.)


That night, when Katrina had been put to bed, she watched the ceiling before going to sleep. She found that she felt much freer and less cramped now that she didn't have the bars of a crib surrounding her at night. She could easily get out of bed if she needed to use the bathroom or go and find Daddy if she had a nightmare. She gripped onto her stuffed bunny and slowly but surely, fell asleep in her big girl bed for the first time.

Joe watched over his daughter from the doorway in the middle of the night. She looked so happy to be in her new Barbie bed, sleeping peacefully. She was getting to be such a big girl now…soon, she would be ready for an adult-sized bed to sleep in. Ready to have a proper desk instead of a Fisher-Price table.

But not quite yet. For now, she was just going to be his little toddler girl. Still, Joe couldn't help but imagine the day that he would wake up and that tiny child would be an adult, who would wrap her arms around him and thank him for the life he'd given her.