Co-sleeping with two little ones

Wow. It's been over a month since I last posted. I really enjoyed blogging when I got into the habit of doing it every night (although I'm sure my husband was bummed that I would go straight from putting the girls to bed to "Just 10 minutes hon!" on the computer, which always took more than 10 minutes). But once out of the habit, it was hard getting back to it. The holidays didn't make it easier though. I really enjoyed reading other blogs about decorating and gift-making and cooking for the holidays and I wanted to take part but blogging was just that one-more-thing that was too much. Ah well, maybe next year (or rather, this year!).

So today I'm posting just to try and dabble my toes in it again in hopes of returning more full-on soon.

We are experimenting with the girls' sleeping arrangements again. With a toddler and an infant (although at almost 10 months, she's almost a toddler herself!), co-sleeping is tricky. Our 2 year old has been sleeping on a futon mattress about 6 inches lower than our bed for over a year now. She moves a lot and doesn't like covers so sleeping in our bed wasn't working out for anyone. But she likes to be close by and still needs us in the middle of the night sometimes so this is a good arrangement. Once our youngest started inching down to our feet during the night (around 6 months), we had to make other arrangements for her and so we put the crib that my husband made right up next to my side of the bed so it's almost like an extension of our bed, but she has her own space. This worked well until just recently when she started a) really fighting going to sleep, and b) crawling out onto our bed and trying to get off herself after naps. So we moved things around again and I put both girls on the floor, next to each other, next to our bed; their heads towards us.

Our older one seems to like seeing her sister sleeping near her (then she knows she's not off having fun without her). And it's nice because the little one can crawl off and on without us having to worry. But there are definitely some downfalls.

Firstly, I have to respond to both girls at night now. So last night that meant getting up for the older one three times because she had either rolled off her mattress or was upset because she couldn't find her dolly (roller onto the floor). And getting up three times for the little one, to nurse her or get her out of the small crack between the mattresses.

Then, at nap time, if the little one wakes up first, I hear her once she's crawling on top of her big sister to get out.

And now my train of thought is gone after the girls wake from nap and our evening was filled with its usual busy-ness. So I'll leave it at this.

But it's mine!

As my daughter's second birthday approaches we are seeing all sorts of challenges, I mean behaviors, appear. Sharing is definitely a hard lesson to learn (some of us are better than others, even in our more mature years). And having a baby sister makes it even harder.

I used to carry around a big day planner to keep track of my appointments as I traveled from home to home for an Early Intervention program. On one of the pages I had posted a list of the 'Toddler Property Laws' to remind myself (and parents sometimes) about how we have to be light-hearted about some of the more frustrating developmental stages of our dear littles one. I'm taking out this chart now to re-remind myself and my husband of just that.

It's not always easy to be a toddler!

Oh Vygotsky!

In grad school, my professors made sure we knew all the important (relevant) theories and theorists like they were good friends. It worked. Even now I think of them. Lev Vygotsky's theory on Social Development states basically that children learn through interactions with others. While siblings learn from each other no matter their age difference, I think it's going to be pretty fun for my girls to be so close (15 months). Right now, at almost 2 years and at 7 months, they are probably the most different, developmentally, than they ever will be again. And it's fun to watch them begin to interact.

The big one opened a box of pegs and began stacking them one upon another. At first the little one was content to just grab a peg in each hand and suck on those (learning through actual hands-on experience - Piaget - but that'll be another day). But when she saw her sister stacking them, she decided she needed those. When mommy wouldn't allow it, she squealed loudly. Mommy stacked some for her and then the big one decided that those were more desirable (of course!) and when mommy again stepped in, the big one now squealed. So we've got the big sister learning that she needs to share her toys, and the little sister learning that if she squeals, mommy will jump in and make her happy (for now). Well, when they are a little older, I'll have to let them figure things out without me. For now, one is much too much stronger than the other.

On a side note, during this interaction, I had the random thought that "Oh Vygotsky!" was a nice alternative to a curse in times of frustration (as when moderating between two very stubborn little girls). Fun to say and fine for little voices to repeat!