Bunk Beds!

With both of my babies, I decided to wait on their birth day to find out their gender. I wanted a surprise, and thought gender neutral clothing and baby stuff would be more economical because we knew we might have 2 or 3 babies. And the fact that it bugged my family and most everyone else was an incentive for my silly personaltiy as well. So when Sophia was born, Matt declared her a boy. I am guessing that in all of the messiness of birth and his lightheadedness-ready-to-faint act he pulls when I am pushing our babies out, that he confused the umbilical cord for some manliness. When the doctor corrected him, that it was indeed a girl, the name Abram Elias fell away and we knew it was our Sophia Mae. One of the first things I said to Matt was, "Oh good, we can get bunk beds!" My children sharing a room has always been a dream of mine. I guess I have always been determined to teach my children that the world doesn't revolve around them, and sharing a room is a pretty intense way to impart that principle. We wouldn't have minded at all if Sophia had been a boy, but if she had been, my dreams of my first two children sharing a room would have been dashed. That probably would have been incentive enough for me to try for a third child just so that somebody had to share a room! I know, I know ... when they are little, it doesn't matter if they are a boy and a girl sharing a room together, but at some point, privacy will become an issue and the whole thing wouldn't seem worth the effort to me.
Well, Matt and I decided that even though we have both a toddler bed and a crib for our girls, and those beds certainly can't be bunked yet, that it would be a fine idea to go ahead and put them in the same room. So yesterday I set to work. I set a record time for disassembling and reassembling the crib. Forty five minutes, and that included a diaper change and some refereeing a squabble between Ruth and Sophia.
Their first nap time together didn't go so well at first. They kept laughing and giggling, so I had to set up a chair in the hallway to keep an eye on Ruth so she would stay in her bed. It was one of the rare moments I had priviledge to watching my girls go to sleep. It was the best ten minutes I've experienced in quite awhile as a mommy. Listening to both of the girls "thuck thuck thuck" on their thumbs, and Sophia's hiccups ceasing as she fell asleep, and their deep heavy sleepy breathing ... so precious!
Nighttime went great also. I didn't even have to set up the chair, but they were both really exhausted. How do you know a two year old is tired? She spends the better part of the day crying. Fake crying, whining, real crying, she cried all kinds of cries, constantly! Time out, hugs, a spanking, drinks, diapers, distraction, ignoring her, attentive to her emotions, it didn't matter. Her world was falling apart! Just a glimpse of the drama I have to look forward to when she is a teenager. She was sitting at the table and burst into tears because her place mat was messy. Nothing about that day worked out for that girl! And you know how fun it is for the mommy to listen to crying all day.
So anyways, they woke up this morning bright and early at 7am and giggling. Greeat, hope they can still sleep in every now and then! I've tried telling Ruth that when she wakes up, that she should sneak out quietly and come into my room when she wakes up. I know she heard me because I heard her instructing her babies on this very issue. But it didn't happen. Actually, I couldn't tell who instigated the morning giggles because they both sound quite alike in the monitor. I know, one can talk and one can't, but it's funny how it takes me a minute to discern which kid is crying or laughing when I'm listening to them through the monitor!
Well, the rest of my weekend I shall be in reorganize and redecorate heaven. Organizing toys, clothes, diapers, closets. Moving decorations around.
And counting down the years when I can purchase beds that can bunk (and unbunk for those teen years should they not care about the floor space).
I'd love to know how you instill a sense of sharing and caring for others in your children. Or plan to, if your children are young.