bedtime musical chairs, again

When Jordan was about 22 months old we excitedly transferred her to a twin bed. After all, we needed the crib for the new baby, due in about a month.

It was horrible.

You know how with the first kid you're all excited to have them do the "next thing" all the time? Sitting up, crawling, walking, getting out of a high chair, moving to a new bed, etc. How naive we were. Jordan's a busy kid. She runs from morning until night. She doesn't walk anywhere. She was a very busy toddler. There was no way she was going to stay in that bed. It took years before we were able to get her to stay in there without a fight. I tried everything - the super nanny thing where a parent sits there forever until the kid falls asleep (didn't work. she'd just outlast me and then sneak out), spanking, tossing her back in there 800 times. Nothing worked. Finally a friend suggested locking the door so she couldn't get out. I wrestled with that one, but finally tried it. She raged. She hated being contained. She wasn't scared or heartbroken (that would have probably made me stop doing it), she was pissed. She'd scream and kick the door and jump around on the bed and yell stuff. She also fell asleep real fast. As soon as she fell asleep we'd open the door back up in case she needed us during the night. We got some pretty good flack from family members for doing it, but it worked. There were no more spanks, no more little girl hiding in other rooms, no more hour or more of bedtime. After a week or two she gave up and we stopped it altogether.

It was awesome. We'd put her to bed, sing a song, kiss and hug and leave the room and she'd roll over and go to sleep. Not to say that she wouldn't try coming out once or twice for a drink of water or just one more hug (that always works on mommy, I think daddy thinks I'm a sucker), but usually I'd firmly tell her to get back in bed and she would.

Then we got pregnant with Mitchell. We put Jordan and Tennyson together about a month before my due date. Again, bedtime drama. They'd play and laugh and giggle in there. Tennyson was about 15 months old and neither of them had ever had a roomie. He was a light sleeper, she was a stinker. We tried staggering bedtimes, which worked alright if she'd be quiet and sneak in there. We tried hauling her out and making her sit in time out if she woke him up to give him time to settle back down. She hated that and after a few bed-time time-outs she was happy to be a big sister and sneak in there quietly and go to bed after he fell asleep. It was kind of nice too, because it gave me a little bit of "Jordan time" at the end of the day. Being the "big kid" in a house with a new baby and a 16 month old kind of sucks in the attention department sometimes. After a while we just started putting them to bed together and told her to ignore him, and sure there were some nights where they were little stinkers, but it wasn't so bad.

Did I mention I'm pregnant now?

Last week we moved all three of them (I know, you're rolling your eyes at this, but we had no choice!) into the boys' room so we could paint the girls' room. Of course it was over a few nights because we were doing a couple of different colors in there and had to tape off the first colour before we could paint the second.

It was horrible too. Mitchell hasn't ever bunked in with anyone, and is a light sleeper, and was very excited. And loud. And Jordan and Tennyson tend to play off each other. I think they all ended up asleep around 10 o'clock for about three nights in a row. Imagine how happy and well-mannered they were during the day after a few short nights.

Happily enough, after we finished painting and moved Jordan out, and had a serious little talk with Tennyson about being a big brother and ignoring Mitchie if he was being naughty, and just going to bed and not talking to him, things looked up! The last few nights have been fantastic! Tennyson takes his role very seriously, Jordan loves her new room, Mitchell hollers at Tennyson for a few minutes and then gives up on him when he gets no response and everyone has been asleep within 20 minutes or so of being left in their rooms. Pretty cool eh? Add to that the fact that Mitchell has never tried to crawl out of his crib and I intend to take advantage of that for as long as possible and things should be just ducky!

Guess who figured out how to crawl out of his crib tonight.

Comments

Candice said…
Picture of the new room, please!
Patkau Life said…
Hi my name is Venessa. I am a cousin to Lyla and Trevor. I have been reading your blog for a while and decided today I show myself in a sence. lol.

The sleeping thing makes me laugh and cringe at the same time. My daughter Zandria is very similar to Jordan, even Lyla would say so. Non-stop running around and just tons of energy. I am not looking forward to moving them together when we have another baby. We are not pregnant yet and aren't trying for another couple of monthes, but yikes I am scared of it all ready. Elias is a light sleeper. I did the baby gate with Zandria to keep her it. Ever since she was little she knew not to push again the baby gate so she already had that in her head so it worked well. Just to keep her quiet was hard.

Oh If you would like to view my blog please let me know on here and I will send you an invite if you give me your email address.

I like your blog and I hope it is ok that I am reading.

Venessa Patkau
Tiffany said…
Hi Vanessa! Sure you can come over and hang out at my blog!

The bedtime thing is crazy! When everything is going smoothly we really take it for granted, and when the kids start to resist going to sleep at night I'm kind of at a loss as to what to do most of the time! Actually, this time hasn't been too bad at all, it's the "baby" that's all excited about the switch, but the older two are doing really well still. We'll see how it all goes in another month!

I'd love to check out your blog, send me the address! My email is tiffanyverwey@yahoo.ca
Jen said…
We had to do the door locking thing with our oldest too. It worked, even if it did feel wrong. And like you, after a few weeks we were able to stop doing it.

Hopefully, after all the excitement wears off, they will settle down for you.

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