Brothers.

These two. 

I wasn't going to put them in the same little bedroom. Our house isn't large, but it has four small bedrooms, one of which is being used for the tv/office. So we have two bedrooms upstairs that are available for our children. 

From the day we found out Henry was a little dude number two, I have planned for them to eventually share a room. We don't live in town with a lot of family, and I wanted a permanent guest room if at all possible. The better to bribe the grands and aunts for free babysitting with ;). 

But obviously the sleep-scheduling thing was totally overwhelming for me. The mama's I surveyed seemed to agree that it was just better to wait til they were a bit older... like a year or so. And that was my plan!

But WILL had other plans. First of all, he started a weird phase sometime after Thanksgiving of being "scared" at night. I say that with quotations not because I am a mean mom, but because he never watches, hears, smells, or sees ANYTHING scary. Because all he ever watches is Curious George and... cmon dude. Not fooling me.

But I also remember vividly imagining things and terrifying myself as a very small child alone in my bed as well, while my little brothers got to sleep together every night, lucky ducks, so who am I to raise an eyebrow? It was especially hard when I'd go to tuck him in and he would cling to my neck, begging me to "kiss and cuddle".

So Jason and I were trying to deal firmly AND sympathetically with that dilemma.

Then, when I moved Henry upstairs a couple weeks ago during my Warrior Mama week, Will came bouncing into the room as I was screwing on the fourth side of the crib, which had been off for the last 8 months since Will was using it as a toddler/training bed. 

"Oooh Mommy, is Henry sleeping with Will?! Will and Henry sleep in the Blue room? Right Mommy, RIGHT." (This is how Will shmoozes us over. He says that "right!" with such happy, confident, self-assured certainty that it is SO hard to bust his bubble. He's a smart one. I don't do whining - it turns me into Rodmilla faster than Drew Barrymore can screw her mouth sideways - but the cocky, happy little "like a boss" method gets me every time, not the least because I am often too busy hiding a laugh to stand strong.)

Will asked me when he and Henry were going to sleep together in that little upstairs room with the blue curtains at every nap time and every bedtime for the next 4 days. I finally told him that when Daddy and Uncle Mo were able to move the bed in there, it was all his.

We finally did it. And I felt like I had to at least give him a shot because he seemed to want it SO badly. 

My brother came by one Saturday afternoon and helped Jason move the bed into the baby's room. This is what Will did immediately, right in the middle of the sunny day:

You could see the pure delight and excitement on his face. He loved the fact that the bed was next to the window, and he loved loved loved the idea of sleeping in a "boys room". Suddenly, there was this whole concept of him and Henry as a unit  on there own. He could not get us out of that room fast enough that night. "Ok, Mommy, go out. Bye bye." (I am really not exaggerating). 

That first night, he was really quite well behaved, considering. He is just old enough for me to be able to talk to him about what my expectations of him are, and what the consequences will be if he doesn't listen. The mere threat of having to go sleep in "the green room" by himself if he was loud, was more than enough to keep him relatively quiet. 

The next morning, Jason and I woke up to hear the sounds of Will and Henry giggling at each other in the monitor. I snuck up there to surprise them - and they were just laying in their beds and looking at each other as they giggled and squirmed in delight. 

Two weeks later, he springs up the stairs and into his bed when I have nursed Henry and come out to tell him its time. He is honestly excited to go to bed! There have been a few bad evenings, but nothing so bad that we had to actually move Will to the dreaded "Green Room" (that's the quite lovely guest room btw, lol).