Room Sharing

Nate and I debated back and forth the merits of Laura and Gavin sharing a room.  Our house has three bedrooms, but we also have Nate's saint of a mother (and often my saint of a mother, too) watch the kids two days a week to save on day care.  My MIL lives an hour and a half away, so she stays over on Thursday nights.  Which means she needs a comfy bed.  So while Nate and I briefly entertained other arrangements, it made the most sense to have Laura and Gavin share a room.

It's a small room.  I blogged about it in March, when Laura got her big girl bed.  So I was really nervous about one child keeping the other awake at night.  Laura didn't sleep through the night for the longest time.  What if Gavin was the same or worse and kept Laura awake with him? 

So I kept Gavin in the bassinet in our room for a really long time.  Then we went to Cape Cod, where we all four shared one big room.  Laura slept through Gavin's little noises just fine, so I thought maybe Gavin could move to the crib.  Except he had a cold and was coughing so much.  Plus, he'd spent the first so many weeks sleeping on the inclined hammock of the bassinet and I wasn't sure how he'd do flat on his back.  So I moved the bassinet into the guest room.

Then we went to Seattle where we all four shared a small room.  Laura once again slept through Gavin's little noises without incident.  I discovered that Gavin slept fine on a flat surface as long as he was swaddled.  So when we got back from Seattle, it was time to commence Operation Room Share.  We put Laura to bed, kept Gavin up for a while, then put him to bed.  Laura slept through Gavin's midnight snack, and we were all happy.

The next night, Laura went to bed at 8:30 as usual.  Gavin fell asleep downstairs at 8:40.  We moved him upstairs.  He slept through the night.  Fluke, right?  Except that the next night he fell asleep at 8:40 again, and slept through the night again.  Maybe another fluke.

Except that it's still happening.  Gavin wakes up some nights, but is quickly settled again after a quick snack or a re-swaddle.  He really loves to be swaddled, and is a great sleeper.  But better than anything Gavin has (or hasn't) done, has been Laura's attitude.  She loves having Gavin in the room with her!  She wakes up every morning, just so happy to see her brother smiling at her from the crib. 

[caption id="attachment_1674" align="alignnone" width="224"] We woke up hearing Laura reading her favorite story to Gavin. Precious![/caption]

We had one night where I wound up moving Gavin into the bassinet in the guest room, since I was terrified for some unknown reason that he'd wake Laura.  When Laura woke up, she was distraught over the empty crib!  "Why Gabin in his bassinet?  Why he not in the cwibby?"  She is just so sweet.  Gavin has spent every night since in his crib.  He's learning to self-soothe himself back to sleep, rather than absolutely needing a snack. 

So room sharing?  Has been a phenomenal success.