The other night I came up to kiss the girls goodnight and found them voluntarily cleaning their room. And folks,I don’t mean stuffing toys under their beds and clothes down the laundry shoot. I found them in the closet sorting and they asked me for a laundry basket and a trashcan. It was already past their bed time, but they were clearly in the cleaning mode. And I know when it comes to things like Deep Cleaning you gotta embrace the mood when it hits.
When we walked through the house with the kids, after we knew we had won the contract, they eagerly checked out their bed rooms to call dibs on which would be the boys room and which would be the girls room. The boys chose one of the 2 “kids rooms” and the girls petitioned for the master bed room. After all they pointed out, “it has a bathroom right off of it and we go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, not you guys” and “it has the laundry shoot in their too so we’d be sure to put away all our dirty clothes” and it had plenty of room for their bunk bed and dressers.
It’s always fun to peek in on my kiddos when they are sleeping. Sometimes because it gives me a good chuckle, sometimes because it tugs at my heart strings, and sometimes just because it sets my mind at ease to see them sleeping snuggly in their rooms. Last night as I was crawling into bed, I realized I hadn’t peeked in on them. I don’t know if I’m the only Mom out there like this, but when I realize I forgot, I just can’t shake it off… I have to go b/c sometimes this little quirky fear will rise up “What if the one night I didn’t check on them something was wrong?
I’ve written before about the crazy places and positions I’ve found my kids sleeping in. It appears child number 4 is no exception to the random sleeping locations of the circus crew.
Last night, when I went upstairs for bed, I found him asleep in his door way like this.
Today at nap time, I again went up the stairs to find him out of his room.
It appears he’s taken a preference for sleeping in the hallway/landing area of our home.
For the past four and half years, this has been her “go to” position for comfort.
As a baby it was great… she totally self soothed… no pacifiers to chase down or beloved blankey to snuggle. Just pop her index and middle fingers in her mouth backwards and start rubbing her ear (or twirling her hair) and she could instantly calm herself to sleep. We knew of course this would have it’s trade off.
It’s been really neat to watch the bond between my oldest and youngest. Our baby was the answer to his older brothers prayers, as he longed to have a little brother. I’ll never forget the look of pure joy when he found out he finally had a baby brother. I know he can’t wait for the day when they can truly play together, but for now it is so neat to see the love between them blossom.
My youngest often wakes up early in the morning… you know that tricky hour of the day when it isn’t yet time for anyone to be awake but yet close enough to morning that if you let him cry it out a bit they’ll probably wake up and it’s way earlier than you want more than one child up seeing as it’s earlier than you even want to be up. You know that time of the night/morning?
More times than not, when I peek in on my girls before heading to bed, I find them sleeping together. Sometimes this means they are both down on the bottom bunk.
Sometimes, it means they are side by side in their drawers (truthfully I find them like this almost as often as I find them in the bottom bunk).
Sometimes they are both on the floor. (haven’t found them like that in the last 2 weeks)
Every now and then, when I peek in on my oldest daughter before going to sleep, I’ll see something which instantly takes me back to her infancy.
And even though she’ll be 6 in a few short weeks, I see her as this sweet little 8 month old in her crib, sleeping folded in half. I’ll remember how she used to sleep like this every.single night… and suddenly all these pictures of her sleeping like this pass through my mind like a slide show.