There's an uninvited guest in our bed.
He's there almost every single night.
He sleeps on my side of the bed - he makes it all hot and uncomfortable when I crawl in hours later - he drools on my pillow & he spills his drink on my side of the duvet.
When we get into bed, he shifts over to one side but he usually lays horizontally with his feet in my back.
I like my own space when I sleep, but he likes to cuddle in to me - snuggling up to my side and resting his head in the fold of my arm.
At 2 years old, my son - who is the perfect example of an easy-to-raise child during the day - who eats all his dinners no matter what it is, who rarely has tantrums, who is well behaved most of the time - is a nightmare when it comes to bed time!
Well that's not actually true - he goes up to bed just fine - usually with no arguments, when bedtime rolls around he goes right up the stairs, crawls into bed, falls right to sleep and stays that way until morning.
On one condition - that it's OUR bed he goes to.
If we try to take him to his own bed, if we even so much as suggest it, he throws a massive tantrum - he screams, he cries, he sobs uncontrollably.
His bedroom is lovely - it's exactly how he wants it.
He's more than happy to play in it during the day, he even climbs into his bed and reads stories to himself during the day - but of a night he doesn't want to be anywhere near it.
We've tried night lights, we've tried leaving the light on, we've tried staying with him til he falls asleep, we've tried rewards for staying in his own bed - nothing works.
We've tried talking to him about why he prefers our bed and why he doesn't want to go in his own - he doesn't give any real reasons, other than he just likes being in our bed.
On the rare occasions that his grandparents put him to bed when they babysit, he goes to his own bed with no arguments at all and falls straight to sleep - he stays there all night!
But when we try to do it? No chance!
Sure I could probably force it - I could probably battle it out, spend a few nights insisting that he stays in his own bed and just deal with the tantrums and tears - but I'm not that kind of person.
I hate seeing him so upset and the idea of sending him to sleep so heartbroken is something I just can't do...I'm also pretty bloody lazy and if it's a choice between spending 2 hours battling with a screaming child who's waking the other one up or just putting him into our bed and having him asleep within 2 minutes, then that's what I'll do.
I'm sure that's not the right choice to make, and I've heard all about how much harder I'm making it in the long run...
But there are worse things that could happen.
Yes we have an uninvited guest in our bed...but he's not an unwanted one.
As far as I'm concerned, He can stay as long as he needs to.
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