With Francesca in her own room now and sleeping in the toddler bed it was time to take the crib down from Ross’ room.   I hadn’t realized how sad this would make me.  All this time I’ve been talking the change up to  the kids  - telling them how they’ll each have their own room, Francesca will be in a toddler bed in her new room and Ross will have room for a reading nook once the crib was gone.  I prepared them but I wasn’t prepared at my reaction.   It hit me how quickly they were growing up and that we didn’t need a crib anymore in our house.  In reality, we probably don’t need the toddler bed and the bunk beds either since every one sleeps in my bed anyway, but that’s besides the point.

So now the crib is down and Ross’ room seems much more spacious.  In reality it’s a small room but with the crib gone it looks much bigger.  We moved things around a little and although there are a few more touches I’d like to add - like adding shelves to the wall where the “Ross” painting is, the room looks cute.

The ladder for the top bunk has been removed for now, since Francesca sees it only as a challenge.  When Ross does sleep in his bed, he sleeps on the bottom bunk anyway.  All in all, it looks much more like a big boy room.  I’m sure as he gets older he’ll appreciate the privacy.  For now I think we’re all mourning the intimacy a little.

In an effort to reclaim my bed and my sleep, I’ve redoubled the “get the kids to sleep in their own beds” initiative, otherwise known as GTKTSITOB.  This initiative has been met with limited success and some time spent in my bed without them is a mixed blessing as I spend most of the time wondering when they’ll come in my bed and who will be first.  Ross comes in silently and snugles up as close as posible.   Francesca comes running in, smiling and saying “mommom”. 

Now I know that time flies by and that some time in the future they will not want to sleep with me and that I will likely miss snuggling with them.  I already do when they manage to spend some time in their own beds.  It still is kind of nice to not have to lie on the very edge of the bed, dodging the inevitable foot to the face or arm slung over the chest.

I am constantly amazed at how my 5 year old boy walks the tightrope between a little boy and big boy.  During the day he is all big boy, fighting the sith with his light sabre and building towers and then making them crash down.  He is using phrases and words that take me by surprise - “Oh, for Heaven’s Sake” was his most recent phrase and now when he explains what happened he starts with “well, apparently”.  

But at night the little boy comes out.  The little boy who wants just one more story because he so very desperately does not want to go to sleep.  The little boy who insists he really does not sleep at all, he keeps his eyes open all night.  The little boy who does not want to be left alone, even with a very bright night light, because he sees the monsters. 

“Please come sleep with me” he says.  As I lay down with him, I try to reason with him that I don’t see any monsters.  They certainly can’t be under his bed as there is no room (his bunk bed has captains drawers under it and so it rests on the floor).  And surely Moose would scare them away.  “No”, he says, “they are here”.  “You can’t see them right now because they are on vacation,  but they were right there”. 

I’m not really sure what to say to that.  I want to tell him that there is no such thing as monsters.  But he truly believes in monsters.  And ghosts too.  When he sleeps in my bed, he walks all the way around to my side to climb in.  He never comes in on the other side, the side by the closet.  EVER.  Even during the day, if he climbs on the bed to play it’s from the side furthest away from the closet.  And at night when he climbs in he sleeps as close to me as humanly possible.  All to stay as far away from the ghosts as he can.    

So I lie with him and read more story books and talk with him and snuggle with him until he falls asleep.  And then,  before I leave the room, I check for monsters.  Just in case.

In the middle of the night, I heard the cough - kind of croupy sounding but not true croup.  Ross gets this cough when he gets a cold.  Sure enough, he was warm and after some Motrin and back rubbing, he was off to sleep for the rest of the night. 

Good thing it’s an off day today.  No school, no committments, the perfect day to have a sick day.  The weather has turned from unseasonably warm to downright cold and hail ridden today!  He spent the better part of the day laying on the couch watching Power Rangers.  I spent the better part of the day trying to keep his sister away from him as much as possible, although I’m sure the damage has been done.  Fortunately, it’s just a cold. 

How quickly they bounce back.  By late afternoon I was doing all I can to have him rest.  My pleas for him to rest and lie down were responded to with “it’s too hard to play and lie down, and if I have to go to the bathroom, I will have to stand up anyway”.  So there.  What was I thinking?

Here’s to a restful sleep tonight and a good day tomorrow.  And if it’s not too much to ask for, maybe a little sunshine?

Proof positive that they are indeed closed!  Or at least you would think.  Alas, I am told that he was just blinking.  All super heroes sleep with their eyes open you know.