We finally made the move and it's been horrible.
Matthew and Jonathan are in big boy beds.
I was hoping to keep them in cribs until they turned 18, but nothing was working anymore. We'd brought the crib mattresses down as low as they could go and we clothed them in big-kid sleep sacks, but still, they managed.
They managed so well that I found Jonathan perched on the highest wall of his crib the other day at nap time and I watched, unable to reach him on time, as he leaped into Matthew's crib.
It was terrifying.
So I bought beds and had them set up within five hours.
Trouble is that these two feed off each other.
Their similar temperaments mean they are similarly wild.
In their cribs, they jumped up and down simultaneously until they simply couldn't do it anymore and they crashed. In their beds, they do the same thing except now there are no crib rails to confine them.
Now, they jump off the bed, or from one bed to the other.
Now, they get out of bed, open dresser drawers, climb them and pull their lullaby CD from its player.
Now, they dump laundry out of the basket and scatter it all over the floor.
Now, they don't nap and it's draining to put them to bed at night.
We tried lying down with them. (We can spare only one person at a time because we do, after all, have two older kids.) They step on our tummies, our faces, our legs. When we are settling one, the other makes a beeline for the door.
We tried putting them down every time they got up without saying a word. That worked with our older kids. The older kids gave up after they realized they weren't going to get attention for their antics.
Not so with these guys.
They get giggles out of each other.
And that's enough attention for them.
So now we lock them in like prisoners.
We give them some toys, listen for any sounds of true disaster and pray that they will be okay.
When all is quiet, we go in and pick them up off the floor or straighten their little bodies on their beds, and change their diapers. Then we cover them up and lock the door again only to find them standing in those dresser drawers again as soon as we hear the first peep over the monitor in the morning.
Yes, the dresser is attached to the wall, but it might loosen. It might give way.
Yes, they eventually fall asleep at night, but they wake at the crack of dawn and, without naps, their personalities are not so pleasant anymore. My "good-natured terrors" are losing their good natures.
Yes, we should consider separate rooms for naps, but we don't have the space right now and we definitely don't have the childproofed space.
So, I guess all I can do right now is keep trying to get them to bed even earlier, duct-tape the dresser drawers every night and have patience. Have patience that the days will grow shorter again and they will sleep longer. Have patience that as they get older, they will need less sleep. Have patience that their good natures will once again take over.
Now I just have to figure out how to find that patience.
7 comments:
we have the same problem over here, i put laycee back in her crib because of it. logan does well until him and ods get started. i am hoping to come out on top of these toddler years lol
Good luck with the transition. The putting them back in bed without a word never worked for me when they first swirched. Of course I was able to move one into the toddler bed first and wait a couple of weeks before moving his brother. I know you said they were to tall for they were too tall for the crib tents but maybe that would be the way to go because I have a friend who kept both sets of twins in cribs until the oldest ones were like 4
Thanks for the warning. I will definitely research the situation before that day comes for us.
Oh Lori, I feel like you just gave me a glimpse of what's to come. Fortunately, ours aren't climbing out yet, but what you posted is exactly why I'm waiting until I absolutely have to to move them. Can you take the furniture out of their room or stick the dresser in a closet to keep them from climbing on it?
OMG... what chaos your house seems like it's in. I never had any of those issues with my twins but with Chris, it's a totally different story. He is doing almost all that you mentioned. But the twins, even now that they are 5, will ask to go to bed at night. They can't stand not being in the same room as the other.
Our doctor told us to put one twin in with Eli so he could lead by example. Well...that worked until Eli went to school complaining that "that baby kept me up all night!" I can't have a tired child going to kindergarten. They are now in the same room and we have secured the bookcase (no dressers) and put a childproof doorknob on THEIR side. I know the fire marshall would cringe, but dying in a fire has got to be way less likely than them getting hurt roaming the house at night.
About your dresser drawers...they sell things to put inside the drawer which make it hard for kids to open them. The parent as to push these hard plastic things down while sliding the drawer out in order to open it.
Thanks for the warning. It helps me a lot.
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