Mommy's boy

Sleeping or lack thereof has not been a huge problem for us since the twins have been born. Don't get me wrong, we get less sleep than we used to (Jim can probably tell you exactly how much less). But in the grand scheme of what we feared when we found out we were having twins... we've had more sleep filled nights than sleepless nights. Until recently that is...

Cole has always been a mommy's boy, but recently he's been even more clingy than usual. 

Then he started having trouble sleeping. 

We put him to bed and then after Summer falls asleep he starts wandering around.  Sometimes you can just hear him walking around upstairs.  Sometimes he's at the top of the steps calling for me.  Sometimes he comes down to find me to see if he'll be allowed more snuggle time.  And I'm talking 10:30 many nights... one night it was even midnight! 

We've been pretty strict with bedtime since the kids were born.  They were in their crib from day 1 home from the hospital.  They slept a 6 hour stretch from midnight to 6am by the time I went back to work at just 8 weeks old (3 weeks adjusted).  We did sleep training, have a pretty solid bedtime routine and other than a very rare occasion they do not sleep in our bed.  (This is not to criticize anyone that does not take this approach, but it is what needs to happen for our schedules) 

I called school one day to see if maybe he was finally ready to give up his nap.  I discussed with the teacher the issue we were having at home and that even though he was falling right asleep at nap time and usually sleeping the entire allotted time... that I needed her to attempt to keep him up for at least a week to see if that helped.  The first week went beautifully and we were all back to our usual nighttime schedule.  However, the next week did not go so well.  Again he was up.... and if he was up, I would quiz him on whether or not he had fallen asleep at naptime that day.  When I found out he hadn't .... I was at a loss for what the issue was. 

This past Sunday night.... he again waited for Summer to fall asleep (which doesn't take long) and then began wandering down for me to put him back to bed.  As I tucked him back in, he began to cry about how he missed me.  He wanted me to lay with him... so I asked him if he wanted to sleep with the blanket from my bed and he said yes.  So we gave it a try and I told him that he could use it until I went to bed..... AND IT WORKED!!!!!  Not only that, but it worked every night last week!  One night I didn't go up for the bedtime ritual and he came down a bit after bedtime and I thought.... oh no it stopped working..... but he just came down to tell me that Daddy forgot to give him my blanket. 

Hopefully this continues to do the trick and for now seems to be a just a case of the mommy's boy clingy Cole! 

Snuggled up with my blanket