Tripletville Adventures : Yes please... Go the F to sleep!!

I'm sure you remember, especially if you are friends with me on Facebook, the beginnings of toddler beds. I stopped updating because I really thought it was going to get better. Well it hasn't completely fallen apart but I can't say that it's all rainbows and unicorns either. We have a pretty good routine established because that's what has always worked for our boys but the moment we put them down, it's demand after demand after demand. Jacob always wants Gabe, Samuel and Zachary always want me for the most part and there's just no pleasing them. They want water, they want a hug, they want a back rub, they want another hug, no, not a hug in the bed, a hug high high (where we need to pick them up) and then no, not just a hug, a kiss and a hug, no, not in the bed, high high Maman! When we think we have one figured out the other one begins his list of demands... We have tried it all and I think we have just come to the conclusion that bedtime in our house will be a process. When you have three toddlers in the same room with different needs, it's just not going to go smoothly. Sure, give me one kid per room and I'll figure out that kid, but give me three in ONE room... nope... just not happening! I have been telling Gabe for a little while now that this is just going to be our life for a little while. The boys are simply NOT going to say good night and let us walk away right now so I took a poll amongst my toddler parent friends on Facebook and here are some snippets of that thread:

"You are not alone lol... I have to rub his back, sing him a song, read a book and then he'll yell at me to come back because he wants to talk to me about Santa... WTF lol" (translated)

"Tonight he [toddler] was in there singing Wheels on the Bus at the top of his lungs for a good hour and a half"

"It can be almost a 2 hour process or some lucky nights only a few minutes. We read him 3 to 4 books and usually sleep with him until he falls asleep"

"One is easy... the other twin sings, takes her diaper off, wants water, her blanket, wants to give us some lint, etc..."

All I can say is that I'm glad I'm not alone. I've done mostly everything by the book with these kids and we've been raving about them since they were newborn and this episode in our lives where they're just not doing what we thought they SHOULD be doing is hard. I'm having an easier time with it lately since I've accepted our fate. It takes us anywhere from 15 mins to an hour and the nights where it takes an hour can be really hard on the head. Jacob needs a LOT of soothing and if we leave when he's not ready for us to leave, he'll get out of his bed, plant himself at the end of the hallway in front of his bedroom door and cry like it's the end of the world. Sam just likes to have his legs hang out from his bed so we sometimes have to go put him back to bed and then he wants kisses and snuggles high high. Zachary normally wants to us to kiss a imaginary or non booboo, remove imaginary or non hair from his mouth or he wants his McQueen blanket. He can quite literally ask us to put that blanket back on him 15 times a night. I think, often, it's that we're so spent with our day and we know that our alone time is coming up soon so we just want them to go the F to sleep! We just need to breathe and give them the time they need. At the same time though, as someone advised me so, we can't forget that they need to learn to self soothe as well... Man... this toddler stage is tough! All I gotta say is WTFK?????????? lol!

I will say this though... once they're asleep, unless they fall out of their beds, they sleep all through the night until their GroClock sun comes up. It's an early 5:45AM wakeup call but that's when we gotta wake up to get three toddlers ready to get out of the door for 7:15AM!

As annoying as putting them down for their sleep at night can be, we have SUCH awesome little dudes! Sure they still push and bite and pull hair and ignore us when we warn them of danger such as falling off the couch if you try to jump over 5 pillows... They are also the most entertaining, lovable, squeezable little boys. They make us roar with laughter on a daily basis and our hearts grow with theirs everyday. We had SUCH a great weekend! I can't wait to see what the rest of the summer brings us!

Here are some pictures to finish off :