The Story of Bassinette Sheets

Here's what I set out to write about tonight!

When Samuel was still a little womb fruit and I was a pre-first time mama who was frightened of e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. to do with children, I went to purchase something in which I could place my sleeping child.  I went to Toys R Us, because, um, that's what was within a 1 hour drive from my house, seeing as I live in the middle of nowhere.

I couldn't afford any of the cribs, I already knew that, but I was hopeful that I could find something.  I had also heard, somehow, that babies should not sleep in pack 'n plays because they could combust or something ridiculous like that and I took that very seriously at the time.

In hindsight I'm not really sure I knew what I was looking for, but I found a Graco Mini Crib that seemed to fit the bill.  It folded up like a pack 'n play, but (and this is important) it wasn't technically a pack 'n play, and thus relieved my aching nerves a bit.  It also had an adjustable mattress like a crib, was small like a bassinette, and looked attractive.  And, oh yes, it was less than the GNP of Bolivia, unlike most of the hardwood, hand carved cribby things sold elsewhere.  So, I bought it.  And, after looking about and probably asking several people, I discovered that the sheet size for this apparatus was a 'changing pad sized' sheet.  So I bought one of those, too.

Yesterday David and I made a big road trip into Moncton to stock up on all the little bits and pieces of things we needed to finish preparing for our second child.  I needed some more cloth diapers, and after two years of constant use on one lone yellow sheet, I needed some more sheets for the bassinette.  First, we went to Toys R Us again, and I was confronted with a much wider selection of sheet sizes than I remembered from two years ago.

I now had options for crib sheets, bassinette sheets, changing pad sheets, pack 'n play sheets, and all sizes in between.  Some of them had helpful pictures on them, and some did not.  After a lot of deliberation, while David tried to keep Samuel from tearing apart the infant section and we wracked up disapproving stares, I chose the one sheet I thought would fit from the wall of fabric options.  When we got home I found out that not only did it NOT fit, but it didn't fit in an amzingly elaborate way.  It was astounding how wrong I had been!  The sheet was too short, too narrow, with curved edges instead of square, and so on and so on.  It had everything I didn't want in a sheet, and it had been something exhorbitant like $16 to purchase, so I knew I'd have to return it as well.

So it was without much hope that I went to Walmart today and looked again at their wall of sheets, which, I should point out, I had looked at several times previously without luck.  They had the usual selection, but, wonder of wonders, they had a few packages of 'bassinette sheets' that had completely different dimensions than any other bassinette sheets that they sold.  I don't know why, but I don't care, I snatched up two 2-packs and called it a day.  The bassinette now has a total of five sheets, which makes me happy.