Big Bows & Baby Beds

“I’m so excited!” Jessie exclaimed to her best friend, Justin.

“Hmm? About what?” asked Justin. He was concentrating on filling his toy dump truck with sand.

“About my new baby brother, of course!” Jessie replied. “Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten about him already.” Jessie rolled her eyes.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, that,” Justin said as he drove his dump truck around the edge of the sandbox. “But he’s not even born yet.”

“I know, but he will be soon, like in just a couple of months,” Jessie explained. “He’s going to be the cutest, sweetest, most beautiful little baby ever!”

Justin smiled. He already had a little sister, Ellie. He loved her very much, but he also knew that younger brothers and sisters weren’t always as cute and loveable as one might think.

Jessie chattered on, “Mom says we get to go shopping for the baby’s room today. I can’t wait! I looove shopping!”

Jessie danced and spun around the backyard. Justin grinned at her silly antics and just kept driving his toy truck. Soon Jessie heard her mom calling from next door.

“I’ve gotta go now, Justin,” she said excitedly. “I’ll come back later and tell you all about the wonderful stuff we bought.” And off she went, skipping through the gate over to her house.

“Girls,” Justin mumbled. Then he made a great roaring sound for his truck as he dumped out the sand—vroom, vroom!

Jessie ran into her house to find her mom. “Is it time to go shopping now?” she asked breathlessly.

“Yes, Jessie,” her mom replied. “Go brush your hair and grab your sweater.”

Jessie ran to her room so fast that she almost bumped into her dad in the hallway. “Whoa! Are you ready to go, Pumpkin?” he asked.

“Not yet, but I will be. Don’t leave without me!” she shouted as she rushed into her room and grabbed her sweater. She quickly pulled a brush through her hair and straightened her hair bow. “Perfect,” she said to herself in the mirror.

When Jessie and her parents got to the store, they found a special parking place right up front just for mothers-to-be. “Hey, that’s nice. I’m glad I don’t have to walk too far,” said Jessie’s mom. “My belly is so big, I’ll need help getting out of the car though.”

Jessie smiled as she watched her dad gently ease her mom out of the car. The three of them went into the store. They tested out a few baby strollers, and Jessie accidentally steered one into a shelf. Crash! Bang! “Oops!” she said. “Sorry.”

“Whoa!” said her dad as he picked up the items that fell. “Let’s leave the strollers for now and check out the baby beds.”

As they moved into the next aisle, Jessie froze. Her mouth hung open as she stared at a beautiful baby bed. It was a small round bed with ruffles and bows all over it. “Look at that!” she exclaimed. “It’s perfect for the baby.”

“Well,” said Jessie’s dad, “I wouldn’t say it’s perfect.”

“Why not?” Jessie asked. “It’s perfect with big beautiful bows. The baby will love it.”

“But it’s so . . . so frilly and girlish,” said Mom. “It looks more like something you would use for your baby dolls.”

Jessie turned around excitedly. “Oh, can I? Can I buy it for my dolls?”

Dad reached over and found the price tag then gave a low whistle. He showed the tag to Jessie. “You know how much that is?” Jessie looked at the numbers. She wasn’t sure, but it looked like a big number with lots of zeros and nines.

“How much is it?” she asked.

“Too much,” Dad replied, shaking his head.

Mom laughed. “Come on, you two. Let’s look over there.”

Jessie slowly followed her parents to where the plain cribs were. “I don’t think these are very special,” she said.

“This one is nice.” Mom pointed to a paleyellow crib with baby animals painted on the outside. “Look at the cute little monkey and giraffe. See? There’s a lion and an elephant, too.”

Jessie frowned. “But it’s not as beautiful as the one with ruffles and bows. I don’t think the baby will like this one.”

“I don’t think the baby will care where he sleeps,” said Dad. “He won’t know whether he’s in a pretty bed or in a manger.”

“Huh?” Jessie looked at her dad quizzically. “You mean like Jesus’ first bed?”

“That’s right,” said Dad. “Babies don’t know the difference once they’re wrapped up in blankets. All they want is to eat and sleep and be cuddled and cared for.”

“We’re the ones who like all the cute baby things,” Mom added. “The baby is the special part, not the stuff. It just makes it more fun for us to dress them up and fix up their room.”

“Yeah,” Dad continued, “if we didn’t have a baby, none of these things would mean anything to us. We wouldn’t even be shopping in this store.”

Jessie thought about that. “I think I get it. All these things are just sitting around waiting for someone to buy them. But it’s the baby who makes it special.”

“That’s right, Pumpkin.” Dad smiled. “So it’s okay not to have all kinds of big, fancy stuff.”

Jessie looked around at all the baby doodads. “Okay,” she said. “But can we get the animal crib AND the matching blankets and pillows?”

Mom and Dad smiled. “Sure! That’s a great idea.”

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