I love it that my boys are friends. They love to play and jabber and laugh together. They like to bounce on each other's beds (until mama catches them) and tell jokes that only they understand. It is so cute, and so much fun.
Recently I decided to move their beds into the same side of their large bedroom. Previously they were separated by a partial wall for sleep time - now the other side of the room is preparing to be the "classroom" area. It made sense to move them because their room has 1 air conditioner and 1 heat vent - both on Monkey's side of the room. So I decided that while Mr. Crum was at work one day, I would take care of it.
Everything fits so nicely the way it's set up. It's great being able to read with both of them easily at bed time. It's friendly having them in their together. Until it comes time for actually sleeping. We have a couple of problems when it's actually sleep time.
Problem 1: My boys are friends - they want to play and entertain each other to avoid sleep.
Problem 2: Monkey has decided he is ready to actually go to sleep, but Crackers still wants to entertain everyone, so he squeals and giggles and jumps in his bed... and Monkey gets angry and frustrated.
It's unpredictable exactly which problem we'll run into when. Generally nap time is easier than bed time for some reason. We've attempted to fix this problem by separating them at the start of bed time. Crackers goes to bed first - he's generally easier to get to sleep - while Mr. Crum reads to Monkey. Mr. Crum puts Monkey to bed when he's done reading. This works when Monkey feels like he wants to sleep AND Crackers has already fallen asleep.
Does anyone else have struggles with shared bedrooms? Does anyone have great solutions? These boys are likely to share a bedroom for a very long time!
Can you put one to bed in their bedroom first, then let the other one fall asleep somewhere else (like your bedroom, for example) then move him into the room later, after he's already fallen asleep? What I mean is that when you have crackers in their room sleeping, let your husband read one story to monkey in your room, then leave and let him fall asleep then transfer him later.
ReplyDeleteThat's the only thing I can think of. Either that, or sit monkey down and explain that if his brother is already asleep, he is NOT to disturb him and explain the consequences of disturbing his sleeping brother, and that nighttime is not the same as playtime.
That might work, some nights we're able to do that - Monkey's really temperamental about where he sleeps and when it's going to happen... he's pretty tough at bed time
ReplyDeleteWe put Stinky to bed LAST. He's a really light sleeper, though, so we don't have a lot of choice. When we put the boys down at the same time, though, it typically takes HOURS for them to go to sleep. I feel your pain! I say just keep at it, and as they get old enough to really understand, it'll hopefully get easier.
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