Bedtime, sleep-time, nap-time…the routine has slowly been changing over the past few months for us. Brandon especially has been changing the way he likes to be put down to sleep. It was rocking with a bottle of milk, then sippy cup of milk and then he would toss back and forth in your lap and was restless. We spent many evenings listening to Brandon cry himself to sleep; it was tough. Then we got an idea (mid-June), what if we moved Brandon to a twin bed? Maybe he would enjoy sleeping more in a bed instead of a crib? This idea started because we noticed Brandon loved being in Owen’s bed; Brandon would run and jump into Owen’s bed the minute Owen was out of it and he would cover himself up and smile such a big contagious smile.
The second crib we bought (for Owen when Brandon was born) converted to a double bed (the sides turn into a headboard and foot board). We thought we could move Owen into a “big big” bed and Brandon into Owen’s “big” bed. We talked with them over a few nights about the idea; being boys they were more intent on playing then listening. We had Sean’s old double bed mattress and box spring — storing at Angie’s house — we thought we would bring it over and then over the weekend make the move. Yeah we didn’t think that one right through….the moment Owen saw Daddy and Uncle Phil pulling a mattress and box spring into the house he exclaimed “IS this my NEW bed? I want to sleep on it tonight?” Keeping in mind it was a Monday night, pushing past bedtime…lucky for us Aunty Claudette and Uncle Phil were willing to stay and help us move the beds around, set them up and get the boys into their new beds for the night. It was a hit, Brandon fell in love with Owen’s old bed and Owen fell in love with his very big bed — room for ALL his teddies now! The slept all night, neither of them falling out and since then bedtime has been much improved.
We did also make another change to the bedtime routine…each night Owen and Brandon pile into Mom and Dad’s bed and get cozy for a couple bedtime books. They love to be read to and Mom loves to read to them! Mom pulls out all her favorites (Grandma H has been bringing some of them over too) and reads away! What a wonderful way to end the day! Since we’ve been doing the reading bit before bed, Owen has started to “read” to Brandon — too too cute!
