Last night, Sterling was just plain exhausted at 5pm. I thought, "This'll be a good night for them to share a room for the first time. He'll be so tired, he'll just go right to sleep and ignore Evie."
Right.
We put them both to bed at 6:30pm. At 7pm, I had already been in several times to prevent the younger one from being suffocated by the older one who had tramped across the room and shoved her head into the blankets (whether just playing or as "lights out" enforcement, I have no idea).
I decided to leave the door open.
At 7:30pm, I reverted to an old classic of my Mom's: stand in the doorway with a menacing eye and pounce on the first one to move or make noise. It worked for about 20min.
Then I tried shutting the door and leaving them to their own devices. Perhaps motivated by the subconscious thought that if one "offed" the other, we wouldn't be having this problem anymore...
I came in 20 min later to utter chaos. The light was on, Sterling was out of bed playing a puzzle on the floor, Evany was out of bed tearing clothes out of the dresser with lightning speed (how she was getting around in her Sleepsack I have no idea), a chair was overturned, the blinds were askew, and her bed mattress was hanging half off the bed frame. I flipped out.
Let me insert here that I had not had good sleep the night before and I had spent my entire day moving furniture whilst dealing with two (or rather, three) kids in the way demanding my simultaneous attention. Sterling had taken no nap (no break for Mommy) so he was cranky & recalcitrant for the last half of the day, and Doug was at the church so I was dealing with this episode solo.
That was when I called Doug. I knew I couldn't cope anymore without bloodshed and terror.
So of course, by the time he got home at 9, (and I had given up, gone downstairs, and sat on the couch to immerse myself in Raising Your Spirited Child, ignoring any cries- muffled or otherwise) they had fallen asleep. Aarrghh!
Silence. Blessed Silence.
......Until 5:30am.
Sterling woke up and cried for Daddy to take him potty, Evie stirred and that was the end of that.
Sayonara sleep.
