Musical beds

What is it that every parent is in search of? The perfect job? The well balanced child? An organized household? Maybe. Probably. Perhaps. I can think of one thing that trumps all other priorities.

The one thing that EVERY parent is in search of is sleep. Sleep for your child which ultimately leads to sleep for the parent.
When Kiira was young, we would put her in bed with some music and she would drift off. Now, she gets lonely. So, we moved Evan into her room – they now share a room to ward off loneliness. Does this always work? No? Now it has digressed into lonely “for mommy”.

Moving on to Evan. Evan also used to be a, plop him in bed with some music and he would fall asleep kind of kid. Now we have “monters” that SEEM to haunt him. Again, his excuse to be near mommy and daddy.

Most nights we are successful in getting them in bed and getting them to stay there through the night. Other nights however….one or both are in our room in their “nests”. And even other nights, one or both end up at some point in “mommy/daddy bed”. And while I used to be more strict on the no–kids-in-the-bed policy, I have eased those rules as I realize that this time is fleeting and they will within a few years, no longer want to snuggle us and be with us constantly.

Admittedly though – there are some nights that you just WANT YOUR SPACE. You don’t want a leg draped over your back or someone’s tousled hair going up your nose. You want to roll over and be able to pull up your leg without kneeing someone in the back (which with a king sized bed one should be able to do with 2 people in the bed!).
We reached an all time low the other night when Evan and I slept in three different beds within the period of 12 hours. He started in his bed, worked his way into our bed in the middle of the night and in the wee hours of the morning woke and wanted to sleep in the guest room. Should I be more strict? Sometimes I am. But , sometimes, SOMETIMES ALL I WANT IS MORE SLEEP. Therefore the saga of the three beds. Yes, someday there will be more sleep. For now, I remind myself that snuggles and hair up the nose are another way to say “I love you mommy.”