Bedtime Rituals

We have always had a family bed – that is, my kids have always slept with us when they were infants and toddlers. Whether you agree with it or not, it has worked like a champ at our house and I am sad to say this era is just about over…

When we were pregnant with our first, we looked all over the world for the “right” crib and then scoured all of San Jose for a mattress with just enough springs for his precious baby back. Of course after all that work, he slept in his crib once or twice– and never through the night. I admit it was partly because I was too damn tired to get out of bed and feed him, partly because I am not good at anything or conscious at 3 a.m. and partly because of his perfect new baby smell that we succumbed to sharing our bed with this little 10 pound wonder. When Caden was born we lived in this tiny apartment with a full size bed and somehow it worked. My poor husband had this small corner of the bed, while we stretched out – but hey, I had to go through labor and breastfeeding – this was the least he could do I rationalized.

Caden slept with us until I got pregnant with his sister (he was 3) and I just got too big. Despite his protests, Caden moved to his own bed and Kiley moved in. It wasn’t easy to coax him into his own big boy bed, especially after he met his replacement, but we did it! We didn't even boter putting the crib up for our daughter, we knew it was going to be useless.

With Kiley, it has been a total of 6 years of sleeping with at least one child in the bed – sometimes two. Yikes! Where does the time go? We thought it would be a few months tops. Says a lot about why don’t have three or four children, huh!

This past week Kiley has slept in her own bed. She and Caden share bunk beds, so her transition has been a snap. I admit that we did bribe her with a “Diego’s Treehouse”, (Dora the Explorer’s cousin for those of you who don’t know) for five days of sleeping on her own and she has done it with flying colors. I’m so proud of her!

So our bed has been a kid free zone for 7 days now. On one hand, it’s been great, no little feet in my back, no little hands smacking me in the head and (I know this sounds gross) no “accidents” greeting us in the morning. But I have to admit, I’ve missed Kiley’s snoring, her hugging my arm while I sleep and her squishy tummy and angelic smiles when she is having a great dream.

Our new bedtime ritual utilizes the ex-family bed in a new way, a wrestling ring. No matter what anyone is doing or wherever they are in the house, when Caden calls, “Last one in bed is rotten loser!” at around 8:30 p.m. we all come running in hoping not to be last one in for that poor individual is promptly dog-piled upon and tickled. It has been so fun and the kids look forward to it.

I miss their cuddly, sweet smelling baby selves in my bed, but wrestling and laughing together sure has been a nice replacement. I have the bruises to prove it.