I’m so beat that I know I’m not going to get through this whole post. But we’re going through quite a tansition here. After a couple of years of sleeping with her big sister, Camille’s "being encouraged" to sleep in her own bed again.
Tonight, I think, is night three. There’s the usual amount of whining prior to going to bed. We have to lay down with her. And she still gets up periodically. Susan found her in Abby’s room after telling me on the phone (coming home from class) that she had done a nice job of staying in bed by herself.
Camille: "I’m scared. Randall’s in my body."
Susan: "Oh, just stop it! You can’t even say that with a straight face! You’re not afraid of Randall. You don’t believe in Randall."
Camille tried to hide her smile, but it wasn’t working.
All in all, it’s been an interesting transition. But it had to be done. They both deserve their own space.
And Abby deserves a goodnight sleep.
More later from Susan…
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Randall? Who is Randall? Camille is a hoot, though I know it must be trying as well.
Rita, if you click on Randall’s name, I think you’ll see. We speak in movie references in this house. It’s our own little secret language.
Erik was incredibly hard to get down for bed when he was little. When he was baby, I rocked him to sleep every night. When that phase was over, things got tough. I finally found a ritual that relaxed him and helped him get to sleep. I tried hard to make sure he got NO caffeine (no soft drinks or tea), very little sugar, and lots of exercise all day. Then we’d have a good meal, and a warm bath. Then I read to him until he fell asleep. Reading time and bath time were quiet time. No more boisterousness, but a time of settling down. He was not allowed to interrupt constantly during the reading. The first couple of nights it took about an hour, but pretty soon, the ritual became his signal that it was bedtime and he’s usually fall asleep after 10 or 15 minutes. Funny thing is – I sort of missed that hour of reading and quiet talking. But, I got more rest and so did he. We are both better people for it
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Bundle of Joy #3 slept with us from the start of 1st grade until the night before she started Middle School. She always went to bed in her own room, but around 3:00 a.m. she’d wander into our room. We tried a number of things (including counselors) until we decided that there would come a time when she would quit. And she did.
Years later we found out that she was abused and tormented by her 1st grade teacher, an issue which we had tried to explore at the time and were unsuccessful. In fact, I found out about it by overhearing a conversation at 5th grade graduation. Anyway, that is a LONG story, not for here.
On her first day of middle school she met a teacher who had a positive impact on her and she slept in her own room from then on.
Camille will figure it out on her own, in HER timeframe. It does absolutely no good to try to force the issue.
We’re making small strides. Camille has way more things that she relies on for comfort than Abby ever did. She’s actually getting used to sleeping in her own bed. Abby told her she needed to do 10 things to be a big girl then we all came up with the list. I think Camille’s completed all but two and those are going to be the toughest.
Bless her heart, it can be hard. I used to wake up in the middle of the night and get in bed with my parents. But it didn’t last past about 5th grade. She will adjust.