Musical Beds, to the Tune of Wah, Wah, Wah

The great plan that Rebecca and I had for when we came to Ecuador was to have the kids sleep in their own rooms, in their own beds. For Maya, we figured it was past time. She's five years old and has been sleeping in our bed, or next to it, her whole life. And, to get her to go to sleep, Rebecca has to lay down with her.

For about the last month or so that we were in Alexandria, we managed to move Maya to her own room to start, so long as Rebecca stayed in the room with her until she fell asleep. When she woke up, as she invariably does, she would come into our bed for the rest of the night.

Regarding Jonah, since we already repeated the same mistakes we made with Maya regarding putting him to bed, we don't want it to go on as long as it has with Maya. So, we figured, now, in Ecuador, was a good time to get him used to sleeping in his own room. We even went so far as to convert our third upstairs room in Alexandria from an office to his room in the frantic week before we left so that when we get back, the transition to his own room and bed will be seamless.

Well, things haven't worked out as we had hoped. The first few nights we were here, Rebecca would lay down with Maya in the twin bed in "her room" and fall asleep. I would lay down with Jonah in the twin bed in "his room" and fall asleep. If Rebecca or I ended up waking up at a reasonable hour during the night, we would get into the double bed in "our room" until one of the kids woke up crying. In that case, the parent responsible for the crying child would go and attend to the kid - which meant getting into bed with him or her and spending the rest of the night there.

So, morning wake-ups would have Maya in her bed, Rebecca in the big bed, and me and Jonah in his bed. Or, Maya and Rebecca in her bed, Jonah in his bed, and me in the big bed. Or sometimes, if Jonah wet his bed, as he was doing the first week or so we were here, Maya and Rebecca in her bed and Jonah and I in the big bed.

When Maya wakes up at night, she always wants Mommy. However, when Jonah wakes up, sometimes I'm just not good enough and he wants Mommy. So, on some nights, Maya would wake up and Rebecca would go in there. And then Jonah would wake up and want Mommy and she'd have to go in there. If Maya was still awake when this happened, or if Jonah's crying woke her up, then Maya, Jonah and Rebecca would end up in the big bed, and I would end up in a twin.

When Opa and PoPo were here, they would occasionally take sleeping duties so Rebecca and I could actually spend a full night under the same sheets. Other times, though, we would start as usual, with Rebecca and Maya in one twin, me and Jonah in the other, and Opa and PoPo in the double. The problem with that arrangement was that sometimes Jonah would want Opa in the wee hours. This meant either I got into the double bed with PoPo, or Jonah woke the whole house up.

(Column Intermission I - When Jonah was an infant to about 18 months, we called him Rooster because he would wake the entire house up so goddamn early with his crying. I'm talking 4 a.m. in the morning and inconsolable, no matter what time he went to bed. The only way to quiet him was to go downstairs and make him a fried egg. Which is fine if it is 7 a.m., or even 6 a.m.. But at 4 a.m. in the morning, the last thing you want to be doing is making a fried egg to start your day.)

So, the trick then became to find appropriate sleeping arrangements before everyone went to bed so that, in the event that Jonah woke up in the wee hours and cried loudly for Opa, PoPo and I didn't end up in the double bed together.

Now that Opa and PoPo have gone, things have gotten even more silly. Now, Rebecca puts Maya and Jonah to sleep in the big bed. After things get quiet, I go and wake her up and we go to sleep together in the twin in "Jonah's room". This is how they have us trained. Here is Maya and Jonah sleeping in the big bed last night.


After either Maya or Jonah wakes up crying for Mommy, she vanishes into the dark and I'm left on my own. Thinking about it now, it's actually not that bad an arrangement. Though, I am concerned how things will work out when we get back to Alexandria. Maya sleeps on a loft and I'm afraid its not strong enough to hold me. And I doubt that I will even fit in the IKEA special that we brought for Jonah.