Roommates

The day has finally come where I can honestly say that Ada and Iain are consistently sleeping in the same room at night. We attempted the merge about three weeks ago and things were hit or miss with Iain spending the second half of alternating nights back in the living room in his Pack-n-Play. Rick spent a week going in to flip Iain over after he got stuck on his tummy or push his feet back into the crib after they poked out of the crib slats. Occasionally, Iain would get too loud and Rick would move him out to the living room to spare Ada's sleep. Thankfully, she is a great sleeper and has been very tolerate of the whole process.

Last week I finally made time to fetch Ada's old crib bumper out of the basement since Iain can roll over now and is strong enough to move himself away from the bumper to breath if he needs to. With the bumper attached, things were going much better. Maybe he just needed to be a bit more contained and protected from bumping his head into the crib slats during the night. Who knew?

Rick also gets credit for teaching Ada how to sneak into bed at night without disturbing Iain. Since Iain goes to sleep around seven and Ada gets to stay up until eight (or nine or whenever she stalls until we finally insist she retires), Rick has taught her how to sneak in to pick two books to read on the couch. They quietly creep back out of the room, books in hand, and read for a few minutes. Then they sneak back into Ada's bedroom with Iain sleeping soundly. Ada climbs into bed. Rick tucks her in while quietly singing a song and then he slides out for the night. Occasionally Ada opens the door to protest for another book or song or a diaper change, but that is rare since she tends to be exhausted and embraces the comfort of her bed and the stuffed animal cuddles that accompany it.

Moral of the story: It might take a long time to transition the kids to sleep in one bedroom (seven months in our case) but it is worth it. Having the rest of your house back is liberating.