Toddler Beds

I almost wrote about this yesterday and I'm so glad I waited a day. Because if I wrote it yesterday, it would have been the rantings of a crazy woman. Now it's just the grumblings of a frustrated lady, that's a bit better.

So, thing's aren't completely perfect here in the Bradley homestead. Yes, Sean's home. Yes, Grey is a sweetheart of a baby. Yes, the boys are awesome big brothers. BUT they are also being very frustrating sons. You see, about two weeks ago, Liam and Dash figured out how to climb out of their cribs. Well, they already figured out how months ago, they just decided to implement the skill repeatedly. We hoped it was a phase but after several days of boys popping into our room, we had to take action.

We converted their cribs into toddler beds. The first night was great, probably because it was so new and exciting. We just had to get them back in their beds a couple times and then they slept.

That was a fluke. From that point on, they pop out of their beds and play play play instead of sleep. I think they've napped twice this week. They're up way late at night. They wake up extra early. I estimate that they've had 3-5 hours LESS sleep each day. That's huge. I don't think it'd be such a big deal if there weren't two of them- there's always a playmate around to either goad or be goaded by.

Why did this have to happen when we have an itty bitty infant? When I'm getting the least sleep and desperately need a quiet naptime? The worst of it is that they get so cranky. They obviously need more sleep than they're getting. The tiniest things set them off. They did wake up sick one morning (and cuddled really cutely, as pictured above) and I thought maybe that might be a little bit of the source of the problem but it hasn't gone away with the illness.

Honestly, it's probably an unconscious tactic to seek more attention. As happy as they seem with the new baby, they probably feel a little funny about all the change. Plus, they probably didn't want to miss out on the action, having Grey and grandparents around.

So there was a week of horror filled with cranky two-year olds and cranky parents. But yesterday, we wore them out (i.e. gave them heat exhaustion) at the park, then I planted myself in their room... and they stayed in their beds... and they took a nap! Then I planted myself in their room again for bedtime... and they stayed in their beds. Until they asked to go to the potty. What am I supposed to do? I let them. After a second, uneventful bathroom trip, I made them stay in their beds, which lead to crying, which lead to sleep. An hour past bedtime.

So tell me, how do I get these boys to sleep and not play? How do I fix this? Maybe we're on to something with yesterday's strategy and we'll be all set after the weekend. We shall see.