At my house we have a quiet time. It is something that I feel the need to enforce because it gives me a much needed break time, and the kids some alone time.
My apartment is a 3 bedroom. In the current set up we have a master bedroom; the kids room, which has a toddler bed, crib and dresser in it; and the guest room/playroom, which has a twin size day bed (do they come in any other size?), the toys and a pack-n-play.
Up until today this worked fine. I put Guy down for a nap in the pack-n-play, and let Cinderella have her "quiet time" that usually isn't all that quiet, in her room. Cinderella hasn't taken an afternoon nap on a regular basis for quite a while. Guy however takes, and needs them, daily. Hence why I put them in separate rooms for this hour of the day.
Well today, I put them down for quiet time, then I sat down to the computer. They were down for probably about 40 min. when Guy came marching out of the playroom, dragging his blankets behind him looking so proud of himself. At first I figured that Cinderella had snuck in there and pulled him out so they could play. I asked her where she was, and she came out of her room. So I figured out that he had climbed out of the pack-n-play all on his own. I had it at the end of the day bed, so I guessed that he had somehow used the daybed to climb out. So I moved the pack-n-play and put him back inside. Not too much longer I heard a thud, and the sound of him moving around the room. Now his timing is terrible, because we are planning on going to my Father-in-law's house for Thanksgiving. Always when we go, Guy sleeps in the pack-n-play. Now I'm wondering what is going to happen when we put him down for bed, and he decides to climb out, in a place he isn't as familiar with.
The other thing is our regular bed situation. Guy sleeps in the crib, and Cinderella sleeps in the toddler bed. I am afraid that my little climber, now that he knows he can climb out of the pack-n-play, isn't going to give up until he figures out how to climb out of the crib too. And it is a lot higher up.
We have been planning on moving the kids to the next size bed anyway, but the timing is off. Cinderella hates change. And by her choice, she doesn't want to give up "her" bed. So the plan was, I am making her a Disney Princess quilt for the twin size bed for Christmas, and she is getting a set of Disney Princess Sheets that are twin size for her birthday, which is right after Christmas. I was hoping those things would make her excited to switch beds. Well now I'm wondering if I can wait a month, or if that will be too risky for Guy.
Oh and the other part of the equation is trying to figure out which beds go in which rooms, when the kids upgrade. I'm not sure what will fit together. So I need to get on the ball, and figure out a solution.
Any suggestions? Would you wait a month? Is there some way you would try to convince Cinderella to switch beds without some way to identify it as hers? Oh and how would you handle quiet time without the pack-n-play? I know your kids (if you have kids) are not my kids, and respond in different ways, but I would welcome any ideas right now.
4 comments:
Our situation is (obviously) different than yours. But for our "quiet time" we send ours to different cages. :D Yes, I am talking about our dogs. hahaha Ok, all kidding aside, Brandi is a genious at moving furniture around. She has a unique talent of being able to visualize the room completed before one piece of furniture has even been moved. Maybe if you give her a call and explain it all to her she can offer some suggestions. Good luck, though!!!
Adam
P.S.
We do have an extra kennel if you'd like to borrow it! :D
My Christopher learned how to crawl out of his crib at 15 months. AWFUL!!! We had a terrible time transitioning him to a bed, only because he knew he could get out and didn't want to stay. It took a long time, but it's better that it happens now so that you're set when the baby comes.
As for Cinderella, I think you're on the right track. Let her make as many choices about her bed as possible, like where to put it in her room, and maybe let her pick a special pillow or new book to read in it. Just make it all about her and not about Guy needing her bed.
Sleeping situations are tricky...we're wondering how to arrange things with this baby. The boys used to sleep in the same room all the time, but then they started waking each other up. When they got sick, I kept them separated to minimize the sharing of germs. We also have 3 bedrooms and I wish we had another one. If your kids are used to sleeping together, I'd keep it that way. Just have Cin help you figure out how to arrange the room. She'll like that.
Guy is way too young to be doing stuff like that already! Then again, he always did things sooner than any other kid on earth!
Dalton was ready to get out of the crib before we had a bed for Lydia to move up into. We stuck his crib mattress on the floor next to Lydia's bed (which was a trundle bed: full sized bed, but only a few inches off the floor), and did that for about a month. Naptime was horrible, and they'd keep each other up at night, but at least they'd stay in their room, rather than coming out to see what I was doing. They are now in separate bedrooms and we've found a routine that works for us. I don't know what we'll do when we have more kids than bedrooms and they have to share!
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