Our Room Sharing Tale

I just read Monica's post on her room sharing fiasco and decided to post about our situation. Jacob and Johnny have "shared" a room since Jacob was born. This was due to lack of room in our house. We have 3 bedrooms, but John needs one of them for his office since he works from home. We do have a den, but it's right off the great room/kitchen, so it doesn't make a good office or bedroom. (Although it might have to be a nursery come spring :)) Anyways, both Johnny and Jacob have a bed in their room. However, Johnny never sleeps in his. Right after Jacob was born he slept in his bassinet for about 3 months. Then we moved him to his crib. This worked out well because we would put Johnny to bed and then after he fell asleep we would put Jacob to bed. Well then Johnny decided that he was too big for his crib and with a crash let us know that it was time to convert it to a toddler bed. This worked for about 2 nights. Then he realized that he could climb out of bed and come visit Mommy and Daddy. At first we thought it was cute and loved to have him sleep with us.

Well that's been over a year now that he sleeps with us. For naps he even sleeps in our bed. I have to lay down with him until he falls asleep. I would love for him to sleep in his own room. So what's stopping me? Laziness on my part. Last night for the first time ever when I put him to bed Jacob started crying. And crying. And then screaming. I got him up and took him and Johnny into our room to watch TV hoping they would fall asleep. Yes I've gotten into the habit of using TV to get Johnny to sleep. Well after half an hour they still weren't falling asleep. I decided it was time for Johnny and Jacob to both fall asleep in their own beds. So off to bed we went. It took 45 minutes for Johnny to fall asleep. I had to sit next to his bed and push him back every time he tried to climb out. Jacob cried a little, but mostly stood in his crib staring at us. Johnny cried and screamed and finally fell asleep. Both of them slept through the night.

So onto tonight. I decided last night that I would do the same thing. Get them both to go to sleep in their own beds at the same time. So 8:00 rolls around and what do I do? I don't feel like sitting next to their bed for 45 minutes. So I just put Jacob to bed (no crying tonight) and Johnny is still awake in the family room. I'm so lazy! Oh well I'll go put a DVD in our bedroom at 9:00 and hopefully he'll fall asleep. Once he's out he's dead to the world. I should be able to move him into his own bed without waking him up.

There's always tomorrow, right?