Bunk Beds

We did it! We finally put the bunk beds in LJ's & JD's "new" room. LJ was SO excited - new bed, new sheets, new ladder to climb....of course, he's only allowed to play on the top, sleep on the bottom (to which LJ was VERY disappointed, but recovered admirably). We have gone back and forth, back and forth on whether or not we were going to put JD in the room, whether we were going to let LJ sleep on the top bunk, where we would put baby sister....and I think throughout the process I decided, I don't know what I'm going to do until I'm doing it. We were going to wait to put JD in the room until after the baby was born, but LJ was handling the transition so well (he kept saying he was sleeping on the top & JD on the bottom), I couldn't help but take advantage of it. JD is not happy to be sleeping in the pack n play, but there just isn't room for the crib, and the bottom bunk is much higher off the ground than LJ's old full size bed. I think what I've learned from this process is that as parents (mothers in particular), we can say all we want to say about what we're going to do and how we're going to handle things, but honestly until certain moments hit, we don't really know. We are about to have 3 kids, three kids. Just because I say something is going to happen doesn't mean that something completely different couldn't happen, or that I couldn't change my mind and go back to another plan. I probably use stronger language than I should when I'm talking to people because I'm a pretty decisive person, but when I'm looking around my house, I'm thinking, "you know, I will just figure it out as I go along." I have all these conversations with friends, "what are you going to do about this?" "have you thought about this?" and I enjoy responding to those questions, but I should probably emphasize better that I have thought about a lot of things and envisioned lots of scenarios, but I really don't know what we're doing about any of it. Because things like JD adjusting less well than LJ surprise me. And how to teach them to sleep in the same room at nap time, not just bed time currently stump me. It's just trial and error. I'm a psychology major (what about this blog doesn't scream that? ha!), so I want there to be consistent themes, and I'm forever analyzing my children (again, surprised?); but I also want to cultivate an attitude in my home with my children that says, just because we would like to do it this way, doesn't mean we're not open to other ideas. Now I do know my kids for the most part, and I can be pretty adamant about what will and won't work with them when people suggest things. LJ is extremely predictable on that part; if I say I don't think he can do it, he can't. Doesn't mean I can't try back in a week or a month, but developmentally, he is definitely on his own curve. And as JD is really starting to come into his own now that he can walk, he is doing all the "normal" things that LJ never did at that age. I am seeing those "gaps" filled by JD that I never got to see with LJ. I am seeing him explore (okay, LJ was NEVER climbing the table by 14 months) in ways that are both amazing and frustrating to me, as LJ was never as curious as JD. JD is getting bored. LJ is rarely bored and extremely focused. It makes me laugh, because JD is your "typical" kid that I have never experienced for myself before, and I caught on by the time LJ was 2 that there were some things not happening that should be. JD points at pictures in books. He wants to know what things are, what sounds they make. He "gets" things that shouldn't leave me speechless, but do simply because my firstborn was so different. I can see how it would be much easier to have your "typical" kid first, then your "atypical" kid; as for me, I'm used to moving at a slower pace with LJ, and JD speeding up in my 7th month of pregnancy is not exactly thrilling for me. He's already fallen in love with the outdoors he's probably spent all of a few hours in so far, and brought me a shoe this morning to let me know he wanted them on. When I took him outside later, he giggled with glee.

So back to the bunk beds. The boys are doing really well, all things considering. If you knew me when I put LJ in a "big" bed from the crib and how that seemed to only contribute to the already anxious child, I am thrilled with how well he's doing with all of the changes in his room. Now we have to paint the top color (the bottom half of the wall, my husband installed wide planks & painted them white)....if only LJ would start saying he liked the blue and not the brown....but maybe that's one of those things the mother lets go of, huh? If only I could find some shades for our extra long windows!