With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility

On December 25, 2009, Thing 2 moved from a crib into a toddler bed and received the great power of being able to freely get in and out of her bed. Along with that power came the great responsibility to not abuse the trust the Alphas placed in her by taking away the bars that confined her in the middle of the night. Silly Alphas! What were they thinking trusting a not-quite-two-year-old to not get out of bed and wander around the house in the wee hours?

The first couple of nights weren't too bad. Thing 2 did not initiate any late night excursions of her own, but she happily followed Thing 1 during her midnight journeys. I refer to this as Thing 2's training period. She was learning the ropes from her big sister. Unfortunately, Thing 2 is a fast learner, so after a couple of days Thing 2 was striking out on her own.

I was sleeping on the sofa one night and heard her tip-toe out of her room and into the living room. She really was pretty quiet, but the rustle of her pull-up gave her away. The rustle of diapers and pull-ups sure do make it hard to operate in stealth mode. Anyway, she came into the living room like a pro, but then she showed her novice status by just stopping and standing in the middle of the living room. The more experienced Thing 1 would have continued on into the Alphas' bedroom, walked up to Alpha Female and demanded something. Probably water or a spot in the Alphas' bed.

Despite Thing 2's restraint, Alpha Female woke up when she heard the rustle of the pull-up. She anxiously awaited the arrival of Thing 2 by her bedside, but she never appeared. So Alpha Female had to get out of her warm bed and take Thing 2 on a quick potty visit before returning her to bed. This happened a couple of nights in a row.

Then Thing 2 learned to walk all the way into the Alphas' room and climb into their larger and more comfortable bed. After a couple of sleepless nights filled with screaming, the Alphas had re-trained her to stay in her bed all night. Now they felt ready to move on to getting Thing 1 to sleep through the night without pull-ups. I must say, Thing 1 is highly motivated by the promise of jewelry so the Alphas promised her LOTS of jewelry if she could sleep all night without having an accident in her bed. This has mostly worked out well but on the nights when she has relapses nobody sleeps.

This is how it goes down. Thing 1 screams and comes into the Alphas' room declaring, "I had an accident." Thing 2 is trailing close behind her. Alpha Female pulls the wet sheets of the bed while Thing 1 changes herself into dry clothes and happily climbs back into bed. The problem is that Thing 2 is now wide awake and screams like a crazy woman when Alpha Female tries to leave the room. In desperation, Alpha Female has taken to bringing Thing 2 back to the big bed with her. There Thing 2 curls up with her head, arm, foot, or all three in an Alpha's face and falls fast asleep Well, fast asleep except for when she wakes up and puts her hands all over an Alphas' face just to make sure they are still there.

Recently, I had a little talk with Thing 2. Now she comes into the Alphas' room and curls up on the foot of their bed and falls fast asleep. I'm not sure the Alphas even notice she is there. Hopefully we will all start sleeping again sometime soon.