The four year old is Avery. He’s a yummy mix of my husband and me and such a well-spoken charmer for someone so little. But the four year old has developed a very bad habit of getting into our bed each night and it’s become a regular thing.
It started one week when he wasn’t feeling so hot and then it just kept happening. A nightmare here or there, he grabs the toy he fell asleep with, usually a toy airplane, and we hear the pitter patter of his flat feet heading to our bed. Then three days ago, after waking up with his little cuteness next to me, he said that he needs “softer sheets” in order to stay asleep in his bed. I went out that day and got a feathertop covering to make his bed more like mommy and daddy’s, soft and comfy. He slept solid that night and my husband and I thought we were on to something, finally. We had solved the problem of the four-year old, in our bed, with his toy airplane. After trying everything we could think of to get him to sleep in his own bed through the night (e.g. threats to bribes), we would finally sleep consistently again thanks to this new bed topping. Then last night happened–he was back in our bed after waking at 1 am and an hour of trying to sleep with mommy lying next to him, in his bed.
I know, I know. A lot of kids have the sleeping with mommy and daddy each night problem and in the grand scheme of things, he won’t be 16 years old and still coming to our bed, so perhaps I should just enjoy this moment in time. I’m torn, really. He’s such a cuddler and I truly love that he wants to snuggle up to me each night but it’s starting to take its toll. Sleep deprivation when you no longer have a small baby is just unusually cruel. At this point, I’ve gotten a taste of what it’s like to sleep through the night consistently again and to have that taken away, is just wrong. As a result, I don’t sleep well, daddy doesn’t sleep well and on some occasions, the four year old doesn’t sleep as well–we’re all messed up the next day and for days to come as the cycle continues.
Tomorrow night I’m not going to give in and I’m going to put him back in his own bed (yeah, right).
Listen Little Girl 