John was always reluctant to move out of his cot. Up until a few months ago, he was still in his cot (eventually with one side off) with a big cosy single bed awaiting his change of opinion. It never came. So just after a Christmas, once we were back into the routine of life, I made a snap decision that that would be the night; the night that John went into the single bed & David was served his eviction from our room. The side went back on the cot, the Fireman Sam bed sheets went on the single bed and David's cot in our room was dismantled. And that was that.
I looked at the two beds side by side and thought, "what was I thinking?" A thought that crossed my mind for the first few days of two toddlers room sharing. Here's how we got through those first awful stressful horrendous pleasegoddontputyourselfthoughit challenging days...
Day One.
Who's stupid idea was this? Maybe if I sell a kidney we could move to a three bedroom house...? David goes down no issues. John on the other hand is in the mood for a fight. 20 minutes in and he's woken David up with his nonsense. I now have two toddlers screaming at me and John getting out his bed every time I close the bedroom door, For an hour and half. It gets worse when Iain comes home and both boys scream for Daddy. I give in and end up sitting with them, stroking their tummies until the fall asleep. An hour & a half it took in total but they're both are asleep. We'll try again tomorrow.
Day Two.
Bath is a farce as we've no hot water - cue two boys fussing & after the stress of the night before, I'm dreading bedtime. David is not for settling. I stagger bedtime again, giving David 20 minutes to settle before taking John through. David doesn't settle though and is still wide awake when John goes to bed. It takes 45 minutes of John getting out of bed & David standing up in his cot before they fall asleep. Between putting John back in his bed, I Google for help & come across this post by Alpha Mom - time to chill the F out and get on with it. I can do what I can to get them into bed but I can't make them sleep. I choose to carry on putting John in bed, as there's no way he'll sleep anywhere else - he's never been one to crash out on the floor. He eventually lays down in bed and starts to dose off but David is still fighting it, so I give in and settle him with more boob. Less time & less stress. Let's hope it's better tomorrow.
Day Three.
Our previous bedtime routine isn't working. Usually I'd settle David then chill out with John in his room before he goes to bed, which obviously isn't possible if David's now asleep in the same room. So now it's bath, pyjamas & story in the bedroom, settle David whilst John watches In The Night Garden, join John for a cuddle, then bed for John. The new routine goes smoothly; David settles quite quickly & John happily goes to bed too. It's only 20 minutes of taking John back to bed & David stays asleep the whole time. Progress!
Day Four.
David falls & hurts himself right before bath so the new routine goes out the window after he screams the house down. Settle David without any story or quiet time and enjoy In The Night Garden with John. Take John through & Davids fast asleep. 10 minutes of taking John back to bed, with him asking me to sit with him each time, and it seems like he's asleep. 10 minutes later he's through again asking me to sit with him and whilst taking him back through, David wakes up. Resort to sitting with them both until they're asleep, which takes all of 3 minutes. Not ideal but still the quickest, least stressful night yet.
Day Five.
No way. David settles instantly. Take John through and after a cuddle, I nip out. He comes out his bed twice and then it's silent. He's asleep. Must be a fluke. He's just kidding me. He'll be through any minute now. But nothing. He's actually asleep. They both are!
Day One.
Who's stupid idea was this? Maybe if I sell a kidney we could move to a three bedroom house...? David goes down no issues. John on the other hand is in the mood for a fight. 20 minutes in and he's woken David up with his nonsense. I now have two toddlers screaming at me and John getting out his bed every time I close the bedroom door, For an hour and half. It gets worse when Iain comes home and both boys scream for Daddy. I give in and end up sitting with them, stroking their tummies until the fall asleep. An hour & a half it took in total but they're both are asleep. We'll try again tomorrow.
Day Two.
Bath is a farce as we've no hot water - cue two boys fussing & after the stress of the night before, I'm dreading bedtime. David is not for settling. I stagger bedtime again, giving David 20 minutes to settle before taking John through. David doesn't settle though and is still wide awake when John goes to bed. It takes 45 minutes of John getting out of bed & David standing up in his cot before they fall asleep. Between putting John back in his bed, I Google for help & come across this post by Alpha Mom - time to chill the F out and get on with it. I can do what I can to get them into bed but I can't make them sleep. I choose to carry on putting John in bed, as there's no way he'll sleep anywhere else - he's never been one to crash out on the floor. He eventually lays down in bed and starts to dose off but David is still fighting it, so I give in and settle him with more boob. Less time & less stress. Let's hope it's better tomorrow.
Day Three.
Our previous bedtime routine isn't working. Usually I'd settle David then chill out with John in his room before he goes to bed, which obviously isn't possible if David's now asleep in the same room. So now it's bath, pyjamas & story in the bedroom, settle David whilst John watches In The Night Garden, join John for a cuddle, then bed for John. The new routine goes smoothly; David settles quite quickly & John happily goes to bed too. It's only 20 minutes of taking John back to bed & David stays asleep the whole time. Progress!
Day Four.
David falls & hurts himself right before bath so the new routine goes out the window after he screams the house down. Settle David without any story or quiet time and enjoy In The Night Garden with John. Take John through & Davids fast asleep. 10 minutes of taking John back to bed, with him asking me to sit with him each time, and it seems like he's asleep. 10 minutes later he's through again asking me to sit with him and whilst taking him back through, David wakes up. Resort to sitting with them both until they're asleep, which takes all of 3 minutes. Not ideal but still the quickest, least stressful night yet.
Day Five.
No way. David settles instantly. Take John through and after a cuddle, I nip out. He comes out his bed twice and then it's silent. He's asleep. Must be a fluke. He's just kidding me. He'll be through any minute now. But nothing. He's actually asleep. They both are!
Day Six was John's birthday when we had his Fireman Birthday Party, so that night went a bit to pot, with David going to bed a little later than normal but with no issues, and John passing out on the sofa. We started up again as normal the next day and if memory serves me right, there was a small battle of taking John back to bed but things went well otherwise. And they have done since.
It's still very much a learning process for all of us. It's definitely easier if David is asleep before John goes through, so now we've taken to waiting until he's out for the count before taking John in. John's now well aware that he needs to be quiet when he goes into bed, even tip-toeing across the room! We've had a few nights where he's not come out at all but generally he'll come through at least a few times, where I'll try to calmly take him back, tuck him in & walk back out again. For the most part it works but it's definitely easier when Daddy isn't there and at only 3 years old, John already knows how to play us against each other. And thankfully, despite David still waking through the night, John sleep through it; in fact, John is now even sleeping through without coming through to our bed like he used to. David's snoring must be easier to live with than their Daddy's...
Do your kids room share? How do you find it?
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It's still very much a learning process for all of us. It's definitely easier if David is asleep before John goes through, so now we've taken to waiting until he's out for the count before taking John in. John's now well aware that he needs to be quiet when he goes into bed, even tip-toeing across the room! We've had a few nights where he's not come out at all but generally he'll come through at least a few times, where I'll try to calmly take him back, tuck him in & walk back out again. For the most part it works but it's definitely easier when Daddy isn't there and at only 3 years old, John already knows how to play us against each other. And thankfully, despite David still waking through the night, John sleep through it; in fact, John is now even sleeping through without coming through to our bed like he used to. David's snoring must be easier to live with than their Daddy's...
Oh this is so interesting for me as in the next few weeks we are about to put ours in the same room. I am so nervous! x
ReplyDeleteI've never shared a room and our children haven't but I am wondering how to deal with them sharing a room at times - holidays etc would be so much cheaper if they could share! x
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