My Bed, Your Bed

Since we moved to our new place, I took this opportunity to give the sleeping arrangement of our family a revamp. First, I insisted on acquiring some bedroom furniture, most significantly, a bed frame. I had enough of the kids jumping all over my mattress like a trampoline and am convinced that a proper elevated bed will eliminate the temptation to bounce. I got my wish and am proven right. This tall bed, with 2 mattresses stacked on top of the frame, seemed so foreign and intimidating to XX, they had not dared to attempt any stunts on it.


Because the master bedroom in our new place is smaller, it was a good time to move the children to sleep in another separate room. From day one, this room has been introduced as KK and XX's room and the room with the tall bed as Papa and Mama's. Vice versa for the beds. This propaganda campaign is targeted mainly at XX who, in case you don't know, has been sleeping by my side since the day he was born. Even with the new bed, my days of sleeping on the floor are not over. To get him used to the new house and his room, I continued to sleep with XX until he falls asleep, then I'll return to my tall bed. Then in the middle of the night, if he wakes up and cries, one of us will go over to calm him and very often end up sleeping next to him on the mattress as well. Up until last week.


During the school holidays, I decided to try training XX to sleep on his own and for its success, I must credit KK for his vital involvement. On the first 3 nights, XX was resistant. He started crying as soon as I switched off the lights and walked out of the room. However by the time I returned from brushing my teeth, the crying had stopped and I heard him singing "Transformers, robots in disguise" with his brother in the dark. However KK can only distract him so much when he's awake. If KK fell asleep first or was not with him, XX could not be persuaded to lie down in bed, much less fall asleep. On the 2nd night, I had to sit by the end of the bed so he will sleep.

Things began to improve from the 3rd night onwards. He'll protest and whine a little, but KK will talk to him and even sing to him to distract him. Pretty soon, I hear only snoring sounds from the room. Though the mid-night wakings continued intermittently, I was happy that at least I could do my own things as soon as I sent them to bed.

For the past 2 nights, there has been no problems saying good night to XX. He even waved happily to me as I turned off the lights. And there has been no wakings in the night! I slept blissfully until morning when I heard the pattering of XX's little footsteps walking into my room. I'll allow him to climb into my bed in the morning and we'll cuddle together, making up for all the cuddles I couldn't give him in the night. These are very nice and affectionate moments that I cherish because I really miss the closeness of sleeping with XX. He's growing up so fast and based on this milestone alone, he's already grown up some more.