Last week was very very tiring for all of us! We’ve been dealing with some pretty major sleeping issues with Aiden stemming from a newly-developed fear of the dark. A week ago Friday, I wondered if he might feel better being in the same room with Logan. They talk a lot about getting bunk beds and sharing a room someday. We pulled Aiden’s mattress into Logan’s room and put it on the floor. Logan was a complete doll all week about the whole thing. He would offer to cuddle Aiden, tell him stories, let him leave the light on in the room (like the one on the ceiling!) and let him have his noise machine in there as well. But Aiden would still have troubles settling down, wouldn’t let us leave him and would scream any time he woke in the night and we were gone. Things are getting better now, mostly thanks to an idea that I found on the internet while trying to “Google” our way back to some semblance of normal nights (because let’s face it, I haven’t had a full night’s sleep in almost 5 years! Someone is ALWAYS up in the night). On Wednesday, after dinner and baths, we had a dark party in Logan’s room. I took three of the glow-in-the-dark stars from the ceiling, got ‘em real nice and glow-y with a flashlight, put them on the bed and called everyone in. Every light was off. I even covered the clock face with a tee shirt. The boys each sat where one of the stars had been and we played games.

Game 1: Guess the food. I brought in baggies of blueberries, strawberries, a few Doritos and cereal bars. Everyone took a bit and then we counted to 3 before yelling out our guesses. Logan won that game!

Game 2: Guess the toy. I passed around small toys and the boys had to figure out what they were. We had a little stack of legos, a small plastic sword from our pirate game, one of Aiden’s stretchy lizards and something else I can’t remember.

Game 3: Guess the animal. We took turns making animals sounds and everyone had to say the animal name. Fact: a bunny can say “moo” if he is pretending to be a cow…at least that’s what Logan told us when his bunny went moo.

Game 4: Hide the stars. This was an unplanned game, but the boys were having so much fun that they requested more “dark party”. I would have them either cover their eyes or hide in the closet while I spread the stars around the room. They would run out and look for the glow. I put them on top of daddy, in my pockets, up on the door frames and all over the furniture. We talked a lot during this game about how much fun we were all having in the dark, “right Aiden?! isn’t this so much fun?” He said it was.

As soon as games were over, Brady was removed to his room while daddy told a story in the dark about the stars on the ceiling. The stars were born far away, but wanted to live with little boys. Lately, they were really sad that they couldn’t be seen at night because the lights are always on.

I can’t say that all nighttime issues have faded, but things are WAY better. We can now leave only a nightlight on and the door open to the hallway lights. Aiden doesn’t scream when he wakes up, but he does come find us. I’ve also been sitting in the room until he drifts off, but that won’t last forever…baby steps.

Last night, we made Logan’s room officially into “Logan and Aiden’s Room”. Logan gladly offered to downsize his queen bed to a twin so Aiden could be there with him and they would still have enough room to play. He is now sleeping on a daybed auntie Denna had when we were growing up. Aiden is in a bed someone from Brian’s family had as a child. It’s quite a mish-mash of furniture in the room right now, but I think bunk beds are on the horizon!

The mini man cave. Brian, brilliantly, suggested that we put the rolling drawers from the (broken) train table under the day bed for toy storage. I’m going to have to work that out sometime this coming week.

Brady was following me around today and climbed into “O-gan’s bed”. Maybe you’ll be invited to the party in the mini-man cave someday darling, but not now – crib-city for you sweetie!

Speaking of room for 2, Aiden and Brady apparently don’t even need beds! Look how nicely they fit into the living room blanket basket. It’s a stylish and affordable way to store your children…maybe I can put our gobs of blankets in Brady’s crib??