You’ve come a long way, parents
http://www.bendbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080711/NEWS0107/807110346/1001/NEWS01&nav_category=
Opinions vary on the safety of parents co-sleeping with babies
http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2008/07/10/ddn071108babysleep.html
As soon as each of our three older children were old enough to leave our room during the night (about age four), they moved into the “children’s” bedroom. It has a set of bunk beds and a twin bed. Almost every night over the years, the children have read books, told stories, laughed, and talked to each other until they fell asleep. (Naturally, there were times when one child just wanted to read, or was extra tired, or extra hyper, but in general, they have had some great times.)
Recently, we started talking about setting them up in their own rooms, but before I would let them sleep upstairs, I had to buy fire escape ladders. They arrived yesterday, so after we figured out how to use them, we began the big move. The children helped me lug the bunk beds upstairs. We put the top bunk in C6’s new room and the bottom bunk in B9’s new room. N14 gets the room downstairs as it is the quietest for home studying. All three children were very excited about having their own room.
At bedtime, I was tucking in B9 and C6 when N14 came upstairs looking lonely. I teased him, and he gave each of the other two a hug and collected them in one room and told them a funny made-up story. I went back downstairs to cuddle with L3.
Their first night in their new rooms began with a BANG! Literally! The sky flashed and a thunder and lightning storm began! I laughed because I pictured that scene in The Sound of Music where the children appeared in Maria’s room one by one and crawled on the bed. And that is exactly what happened. (For the record, N14 never showed up.)
I started singing My Favorite Things. We couldn’t even watch TV because the satellite went out, so there we were, all in the dark, waiting for the next lightning flash to brighten the room. L3 plugged his ears and hid under the covers. They weren’t really scared, more like just excited.
After the storm, everyone went to their own beds. I had tried to get the cat in the house a few times, but she finally came when the storm was over. At first, she stood at the door and wouldn’t come in, but a noisy June bug did. By then, it was around 11 PM, but I called N14 to come get the June bug.
Then I went upstairs to check on the other two. I noticed the window to the west was open and everything was all wet from the rain, so I ran to get a towel. While I was cleaning the puddle, C6 dumped over a big glass of water next to her bed. I’m glad I had the towel all ready! I went to get the vacuum to clean up the smaller pieces of broken glass.
B9 and C6 decided they needed a night light in case they had to get up to go to the bathroom, so after finding one for them, I headed back downstairs and watched reruns of Jon and Kate Plus Eight. L3 fell asleep quickly.
Everyone woke up happy in their new rooms. I am sure they will miss all the good times of being together, but they are happy and excited to have their own space.
