A Little Mis and Chief

The bedtime battle continues. Mr. Man Pepper still does not like his room. He will go to sleep in his bed pretty easily when a cat is in bed with him. But the cats have to go in the bathroom at night to prevent pee accidents. At some point in the night Pepper realizes that cat is gone and he wakes up. For a while he came bawling into our room. But we would always take him back right away and put him in his bed. After a few nights of this, he started coming quietly into our room and climbing into bed on my side. He seems to know Mommy is a deep sleeper. When I wake up and find him beside me, he is sound asleep and has most likely been there for a while. I always take him straight back to his bed. So last night Matt put Pepper to bed. He went and worked downstairs while I was on the computer. After about 30 minutes I went to check on Pepper. The cat was still there, but Pepper was not. After just a few minutes of searching, I found him all cuddled up with Snapper in her bed. He was wrapped up in her arms, and they were quietly talking and giggling. *Stab* to the mommy heart! How could I disrupt so much sibling love and cuteness? But alas, I must teach Pepper to sleep in his bed. So I moved him back into his room, and told him if he got out of bed again I would spank his bottom. He went right to sleep.

This morning I had to get Matt to work early, so I got up and went in to wake up the kids. Pepper's bed was empty. I looked downstairs but he was not there. So I went back up and peeked into Snapper's room. This is what I saw! Little stinker! He figured out how not to sleep in his bed without waking Mommy and Daddy!



I tiptoed back to my room to get Matt and the camera. We stood there together for about 3 minutes, just watching our little ones sleep. You can't see in this picture but they were all wrapped around each other, and sleeping like logs. We had a good hard think about Pepper and the room situation. Is it really so bad that they want to be together? Why is it so important that they sleep in different rooms? Why did we move them to their own rooms in the first place? The issue was not because of sleep--rather, we moved them to help control the toys and keep Snapper from having to clean up her brother's messes.

When I woke Snapper and Pepper, they snuggled closer together and just lay there. Snapper put her arms around him and whispered sweet words of love to him. Tears in my eyes! This is the kind of relationship I want my kids to have! I asked Pepper what he was doing there. His reply: "I was scared in my room so I came to sleep with 'Snapper' in her bed. 'Snapper' loves me." Melt! Then Snapper offered, "Mommy, 'Pepper' came to my bed in the middle of the night because he was scared. I let him get in bed with me and he fell asleep right away. I don't mind if he sleeps with me. Maybe we shouldn't have our own rooms anymore. I miss him and I want him with me. He's my brother and I love him."

What can a mommy say to that? After brief discussion, Matt and I decided that Pepper will go to sleep in his own room. If he wakes in the night and wants to go to Whitney, that's fine. They both love the arrangement, and it prevents midnight trauma. I never yet met a kid who went to kindergarten in diapers or sucking on a pacifier. I'm sure this is a phase for Pepper that he will eventually outgrow. For now though, we believe this will foster a more loving relationship between our kids.

And it's so dang cute!

Just to end this, I must put in this picture that I took about 20 minutes ago. Pepper disappeared for a while. I finally found him "taking a bath." No water, just plenty of shampoo and soap...
Time for a high up child latch for the bathroom door!