skip to main |
skip to sidebar
I knew this day, or perhaps I should say "night," was coming. For several years running, I have had four little girls who would go to bed at 6:30 pm, settle down by about 7 pm, and not wake until 7 am. Yes, I was spoiled. During the summer, I started thinking the early bed time might be on it's way out, but with our days packed with swimming, trips to the park, etc., usually everyone was worn out and ready for bed. I didn't want to tweak the schedule until after school started, so I could get an idea of whether school would wear them out. They need to be up by 6:45 am on school days, so I wanted to make sure they were getting enough rest.
Apparently they were, because for nearly a week they were rising by 5 am. After a few days of that, and realizing it was no freak occurrence, I took immediate action. First I pushed bed time to 7 pm... meaning going upstairs at that time, changing into pajamas, brushing teeth, telling stories and getting tucked in, a process that can take up to 30 minutes. This resulted in a 5:45/6 am wake up. Still too early for my taste. I pushed it to 7:30 pm. They now sleep (most mornings) until 6:30 am or 7 am. Score!
You may recall I was reluctant to change bed time because I have two good sleepers and two not-so-good sleepers. Cakes and Tortilla are out like a light, regardless of what time they go to bed. In fact, Cakes now asks around 7 pm if she can go to bed. Sue Sue and Roo, though, like to read books, talk, get a drink, go to the bathroom... anything to avoid going to sleep. This later bed time has been good for curbing the nightly mischief. They're asleep within a half hour.
It makes for a hectic nightly routine for me. By 8 pm I'm exhausted, ready to sit down and veg out. But, the trade off is nice... no more rising before the sun!
When my daughters came home from the hospital, I quickly decided to be a "cry-it-out" mom. I didn't have much of a choice. They ate every three hours. Sometimes it took 2+ hours to finish a feeding. If I then checked on them for every fussy moment I wasn't going to get much sleep. Hubby and I alternated feedings overnight. There were some nights when we passed each other in the hallway: one of us was headed to bed after a feeding, the other was getting up for the next feeding. Crying it out became the only way we could get sleep.
And now, here we are four-and-a-half years later and I'm having to resort to the cry it out method again. Cakes and Tortilla fall asleep right away most nights. Sue Sue goes to sleep in a reasonable amount of time if Roo isn't bothering her. Roo is my hold out. I blogged awhile ago that Roo is having some separation issues. Something has really scared her and she doesn't like to be in a room without Mommy or Daddy.
Bed time hasn't been a huge issue, but it's definitely a drawn out process. Roo needs to say good night over and over until she falls asleep. She'll yell it out her door after I've gone downstairs. Or she'll need to ask me a question, something mundane like "what are we doing tomorrow?" The other night I reached my breaking point. She had been upstairs for more than an hour and was still shouting the occasional "good night" out her door. The next night I took a stand. I tucked everyone in, gave them all their hugs and kisses, read stories, etc. Then I told Roo good night and told her I would not speak to her any more until morning. It was hard. She yelled, she screamed, she cried. We have a camera pointed at her bedroom door due to a recent habit of disturbing her sisters while they sleep. When I switched over to see what she was doing I thought I was watching an episode of Super Nanny. If you've ever seen the show, then you've seen the night vision camera where inevitably one child has an extreme meltdown. I ate my dinner and when I was done, I realized it was quiet. She conked out in less than an hour. The following night, her rage lasted maybe 20 minutes. Last night? 10 minutes.
I don't want to traumatize her. I want her to know I'm downstairs and that I'll certainly come running if there's a true emergency. But I think we're finally making some progress in getting her to understand that at bed time we go to sleep... and if we can't fall asleep then we stay in our bed and be quiet.
Other than the first night, the switch to twin beds and new rooms (two girls in each room) has been a pretty smooth transition. How did I do it? I threatened them within an inch of their lives. KIDDING!!!!!!
My first night doing the bed time routine alone, I was a nervous wreck. I really envisioned myself up until all hours of the night trying to coax my daughters back to their beds. Turns out I had nothing to worry about.
We started the night the way we normally do, reading books on "the book couch." Each of them pick a book for me to read and they take turns sitting next to Mommy. Sometimes they're more concerned about whether it's "time to switch" than whether I'm reading a book they enjoy. When we finished the books I told them they could take their books upstairs. What? Mommy never lets us take books to bed. They were definitely intrigued.
Once we got upstairs we did the whole teeth brushing, potty routine and they were quite curious as to why the books were upstairs. I told them when they wake up it would likely be too early to get out of bed, so they could quietly look at books in the morning. But really, I had another trick up my sleeve. It was time to be tucked into bed, so I had everyone go to their rooms and sit on their beds. I went to Roo and Sue Sue's room and told them they had to be quiet, but they could whisper and look at books while I took care of Cakes and Tortilla. I shut the door and headed to the next room.
Cakes, Tortilla and I went through our regular routine. Then I tucked them in and told them I would be back to check on them. I approached Roo and Sue Sue's room. They were still on their beds, whispering and looking at books. I repeated the hugging, kissing, night-night routine with them. I stayed in their room for a few minutes to make sure they settled down, since they are my nighttime mischief makers. Mission accomplished.
See, my secrets aren't really secrets. And they're not without their flaws. Roo and Sue Sue still like to test the limits and get out of bed after I've tucked them in, but all in all, they've surprised me with how willing they are to behave... all because they have books to keep them occupied.
We finally did it. After having eight boxes of bed parts sitting in our house, we finally got all the beds put together and split the girls in two rooms. (I use the term "we" to essentially mean Hubby because my sole job in the assembly was to order the beds). So, bye-bye cribs that converted to toddler beds. We definitely put you through the wringer... thank goodness none of you collapsed on us!
There's still some decorating to be done in the "white room." It has a Tinkerbell wall paper border, but I want to add some fairy decals, too.The first night went better than I thought it would, but not a good as I had hoped. Everyone was out of bed at some point. Yes, it was to be expected. But after preschool I had them outside running around the neighborhood in hopes that I could wear them out. Unfortunately, the excitement was too much to let exhaustion stand in the way of a good 'ol slumber party.
Cakes and Tortilla are my best sleepers. I decided to keep them in the "purple room." They are often out shortly after lights out, so I felt it was only fair to room them together and let them finally get some uninterrupted sleep. They, of course, were out of bed and running around the first night. Since then, they have been conked out in record time.
Sue Sue and Roo are what I'll call my "night time troublemakers." They giggle. They make endless trips to the bathroom. They will even go around to their sleeping sisters and try to wake them up. I was apprehensive about rooming them together, but, in the end decided I would rather deal with one disruptive room than have them in separate rooms. The first night, they were both up until close to 10 p.m. (and up at the crack of dawn the next morning). The next night, Roo was my hold out. The following night was Sue Sue. I would be lying if I said I didn't expect this. Eventually they'll settle down (right?!)
I was adamant that the first night in the new rooms had to be a night Hubby didn't work. There was no way I was embarking on this big change by myself. I've now had a few nights of going it alone.... and I'll share my little tricks for that process tomorrow.
The big room split is almost here. The beds have been ordered and as soon as they arrive it's game on. My biggest concern is what will happen at night. I'm talking middle of the night, Mommy's fast asleep night.
I'm a sound sleeper. I've somewhat been broken of that habit after months of crying newborn quads, but still, it takes more than a slight whimper to rouse me when I'm down for the count. I still have a monitor in the girls' room and it's been a lifesaver (or at least a carpet saver) on the nights they've woken up barfing. I am able to distinguish between a hard cough and a barfing cough. If I hear the latter, I know to run down the hall, flipping on all the lights so I can find the sickie.
So with the room split, I'm in a bit of a pickle. Can dual monitors work? I'm afraid with two monitors, their signals will interfere with one another, even if we set them on different channels. I'm considering putting the monitor in the hallway right outside their doors... but then I'm afraid I'll wake up due to mischief-making felines who won't be able to resist the new "cat toy" in the hallway. I know eventually we have to break away from the monitors, I just don't know if I'm ready to do it. I'm just not sure how to turn off the monitor and still be able to stay on top of any nighttime issues, ranging from potty breaks to illness to nightmares.
