I am having a toddler room sharing dilemma — which I am sure is quite common. Elsie now insists on jumping in her crib, very very vigorously (squeak squeak squeak! Bump bump bump!), and throwing her sippy cup (Thud!) and then stuffed animals out the moment she wakes in the morning (or from nap). Which is generally 5:40 am or so, for the former.
It is clearly waking up Delia AND Emma (who is in the next room over, behind a closed door!). Elsie & Delia have a nightlight that cues when its wakeup time (right now set for 6am) and for awhile there she was really good about waiting — not sure if she was lying there awake waiting for "Sun Come On!" or just sleeping later. But now, that is not happening. Again.
Its not like 20 minutes is a huge deal, either. My issue is less that she is waking a bit earlier than I’d like and more about the jumping/waking sibs up. Though I do kind of fear that she will keep pushing it earlier and earlier – back to the 4:30-5am wakeups we were having awhile ago– horrors! I am not a morning person! And I feel bad for both Delia and Emma — they could use the sleep. Until recently both Elsie and Delia would start talking or calling for me, which doesn’t seem to wake each other as much. The jumping, nobody ever sleeps through.
What would YOU do? Is there anything TO do at this age (two years old)? I have told her not to jump but ha ha ha, yeah right. Jumping is SO FUN!!! Especially if it causes your sister to then wake and jump, too, in unison!!! I get that, and agree. Pretty fun stuff. But still! Don’t freaking wake your sister! This is my biggest fear with the whole looming crib to big kid bed transition, and I know this is nothing compared to what we may face (oh hello, here I come to SIT ON YOU, sleeping sister, WAKE UUUUUUUUUP!). I just am trying to figure out if there is something I can say or do to eliminate this.
Probably not.
Alas.
Oh, toddlers…
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I don’t have multiples and my kids don’t share a room so I’m not sure I have a great idea. I suppose you could try to have Delia and Emma room together since they seem to sleep better. Although if they’re not used to being roomies that might not work, and I’m not sure if twins really want to be separated.
Do the kids sleep with a noise machine? Ours do and I find the noise helps mask other unwanted noise. So you could try to introduce one…although again our kids slept with one since they were babies so introducing a noise machine might take some getting used to.
Is the light from the window waking Elsie? Maybe hanging black-out curtains over black-out blinds would help keep it dark and encourage sleep.
That’s all I’ve got!
Big Girl Beds should be interesting.
We have both black out shades and a noise machine (both great ideas, Marilyn, we love them both)! Its not cranked up to high, though….I suppose I could try that…
Crank it up. Jack’s used to have to be so loud we were having trouble hearing the TV downstairs but Sammy never woke him up in the middle of the night. Now they wake eachother every morning. I guess the air conditioners are not as loud. I find that it is just so much harder inthe summer to get the boys to sleep longer. It’s very bright even with the shades, the birds are having a party and it’s time to get up long before I am ready.
If you want her sleeping later, I second the blackout curtains, white noise, etc. Does wonders for my boys. Otherwise, ditch the cribs, put their mattresses on the floor and let her come on in to your bed and snuggle until it is a decent hour.