Switch-er-roo

December 28, 2011
A couple of days ago we decided to switch things up a bit.

Little did we know the consequences.

Our 101-year-old house is handling about all it can. It's bursting at the seams, well floors, from trying to house, feed, clothe, clean, and entertain four people. We had three options. Get a new house. De-junk for the umpteenth time and start getting rid of stuff we actually want to keep. Oh wait, we did that this week... six huge bags stuffed with clothes, shoes, blankets, household items, toys, books, etc. Or move Pearl and Cole into the same bedroom and make a toy room.

We went with option 3.

It took all day to move Cole's crib into Pearl's bedroom and then rearrange both rooms. We figured we might as well make Cole's crib into a toddler bed while we were at it. The kids weren't quite sure what to think of things. I admit I almost told Jeff to move things back when I saw my baby's room empty. It was weird.

Night one went surprisingly well. Cole was still pretty sickly and didn't put up much of a fight. We had more trouble with Pearl not wanting to be quiet. But night two and beyond? Ugh. It has sucked. Apparently there really are monsters in Pearl's room like she's been telling us for years now. We were completely blindsided by the difficult transition Cole has had with the change. He's gone from a sweet, snugly angel who would just lay down and go to sleep on his own to a banshee screaming monster. The second night of the new set up had Cole up from 4-6 a.m., getting out of his toddler bed twice and then screaming the rest of the time. I told Jeff I was not getting up again with a kid who can escape his bed so on night three, Jeff put the crib back together.

There's still screaming for at least an hour every night - poor Pearl who has to fall asleep in our bed now - but at least that twerp can't escape. And we can shut the door to the now toy room and pretend the disaster isn't there.

Any advice?