Long bedtimes at the Scroggins-Low household these days. We're trying, that is, to move both of the girls into a single room, thereby freeing up the larger of their bedrooms to serve as a playroom/ toy-storage-area/ guestroom. Luck has been sporadic thus far. Daphne (to the left, in full pirate/ hula girl outfit) is all for the idea, since she admires her sister to nothing less than idolatry. Getting to sleep in a pack 'n' play (that's a portable crib, for those of you who haven't been totally indoctrinated in the product industry associated with American infancy) – and eventually, in her own permanent crib – in the same room with Pippa is for her the equivalent of your average Young Republican getting to sit at the high table with Karl Rove.
Pippa (brunching with her friend Maddie, on left), on the other hand, approaches the whole matter with far more circumspection. Okay, so it's nice to have my sister in my room, especially since she's confined & can't get at any of my stuff. And it's kind of fun to swap giggles for a while after bedtime, and to make our talking Teletubbies talk to one another across the room. But do I really want to bunk down with a party animal who just doesn't know when to stop? I've got to get up for preschool in the morning, but my sister's happy to keep laughing, squawking, and playing fort-da with stuffed animals till the moon is high in the sky. What's in this for me?
The big answer: A Bunk Bed. A Bunk Bed With A Slide. Mind you, I think we're asking for trouble – aside from the whole issue of broken collarbones etc., I have a sneaking suspicion that importing playground equipment to the bedroom is going to push actual sleeping time all the way into the ante meridian. It's all an adventure.
8 comments:
Your girls are adorable. If they fight too much, just send one of them up here to me. I like the pirate, but I'm flexible. I'm very good at playing (and there are 2 count 'em 2 playgrounds within 2 blocks of my house) but not so good at the discipline. So Thing 1 might be able to reach her full Thing potential under my reign.
A Bunk Bed With A Slide??!?!?! They didn't have these things when I was little. Madness. Glory and madness. That is so, so cool.
Yes, a bunkbed with a slide; available in several models, including: Pooh's treehouse; medieval castle; rustic log cabin. Dunno about "glory," but madness aplenty.
Tonight's barbaric yawps subsided around 11:00, but if things get worse, you can look for a big UPS package, Jessica!
Brother Scroggins!
No, it's not poetry that can compels me these days to respond to one of your notes. But talk about kids & bedrooms - well, you had me from "Sleeping Arrangments."
Los Bros. O'Leary are sharing a room - somewhat practically, but still also theoretically. Both of them are cool with the prospect of sharing a room. (Which I did, with one or another of my brothers until I was fourteen.) But April was bahavioral therapy month for Lucian to get him to sleep through the night. He & I bunkered down downstairs - so the others could actually sleep - & he worked out his desire to wake every hour or so from within the confines of the pack-n-play (or the Rock-n-play). It worked! He's sleeping through the night now, waking maybe once, maybe twice. However, he's been sleeping in my study for the time being. The boys go to bed at different times, which creates a prolongation of bedtime; & Gabby has a bedtime routine that rivals High Mass in its particularity & grandeur. (He is, after all, my boy.) So, it's been a bit of a pain - or, something of an exile from my study. But, as Pound reminded us, Ovid had it worse.
I forsee a space merger sometime this summer. I'm counting on it!
Good luck to the clan...
Peter
There comes a time when you stop worrying about where they're sleeping and start worrying about who they're sleeping with...
Our girls have been in bunkbeds for a couple of years now (they're six and almost three now), and that's worked out quite well. On the other hand, Erin, the youngest, is usually asleep in about seven seconds and it's her older sister that fights the sleep.
I'm sure that adding a slide would help matters. As it is, they just swing around on it like monkeys.
p.s. very cool "Thing 1" shirt and very adorable girls.
Thanks for the encouragement, Josh. Here's good vibes – you know I unfortunately don't pray – for more regular sleeping hours, Peter. And thanks, a whooole lot, Norman. That kind of reminder just makes my day...
mark, be sure to punch holes in the box.
it'll be nostalgic for Thing 1.
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