Big Boys in Big Boy Beds

So, we finally took the plunge and moved the boys out of their cribs and into big boy beds. They turned three last November, so I guess it was high time! Plus, we had our spring break this week, so we had time to make the move happen. We took down both cribs and set one of them back up in the playroom (soon to be the nursery). I took the other one to the Salvation Army Thrift Store and had a little tear in my eye as I pulled away.

They are sleeping in twin beds that belonged to my step-father's grandparents, and they are just the perfect height for our little fellas. In fact, they are so low that I can't imagine how two elderly people ever got in and out of them. I will come back and post some pictures soon.

Needless to say, the monkeys came out in full force when the boys saw their new beds. We put baby gates on both doors in their room so that we would not have to constantly chase them back into the room. Still, they can get out of their beds and run around in the dark making mischief of one kind and another. The first night, it took them about an hour and a half to finally fall asleep, and when we finally went into the room to see where they had "crashed" we found W sleeping in his bed and D fast asleep (or "fass asweep" as they like to say) in the rocking chair...with his head on the footstool and feet in the air! We moved him to his bed and there he stayed!

The second night they wound down in about an hour and both fell asleep in their own beds. We were so excited...until 3:30 a.m. when D woke up and got the party started. He finally, through great effort, managed to wake W up, too. After we heard them saying "look brother, it's bright outside" and then heard their bedroom door open and a little voice say "it's dark out here," Daddy got up and informed them that it was NIGHT NIGHT TIME. Needless to say, that did not work, and he ended up taking his pillow into their room and lying down in the floor to keep them quiet so that the remaining members of the family could have some peace and get some sleep. And there he stayed...for the next two hours. W went back to sleep pretty quickly, but D didn't give it up until 6 a.m. Weren't his preschool teachers the lucky ones the next day? (I did call and forewarn them.)

So, we were just sure that they would take naps that afternoon because they would be so exhausted, but we were so wrong. Remember the pajama removal issues we faced with them? And how we "cured" them by putting them in one piece footed pjs backwards? Well, at naptime yesterday, they found out that they could help each other out of this situation...literally. They unsnapped the top snap and unzipped each other and voila...they were free. When Daddy went in to check on the status of their "napping" he found them both in D's bed...naked. D's bed had been peed in and W's bed had been pooped in. However, they had both put their diapers in the trash can! Wasn't that thoughtful and tidy of them? I came home about this time, and it was not a pretty sight. Daddy had dressed them and placed them side by side in the rocking chair where they both sat looking extremely remorseful. Actually, they looked so sad and cute and perfectly identical that I really wanted to take a picture of them, but I didn't think that exactly sent the right message. I got some cute video later that evening of W explaining how it all went down. I wish I knew how to load it here, but I don't. So, oh well. While W was telling the sad tale of their misdemeanors, D was sitting in his Daddy's lap...fass asweep. Clearly, all the partying, peeing and pooping had taken its toll on the little guy.

The Old Switcheroo

For the first 30 months of our sons' lives, only I could definitively tell them apart...even my husband struggled. Luckily, W has a small mole on his lower back for people in the know to check when in doubt. But at a glance, they are apparently very hard to tell apart. Further complicating matters was that they really didn't know their own names. They knew that they were "D & W" but if you asked "where's D?" D was just as likely to point at his brother as he was to point at himself. I blame this on the poor things being called by the wrong names so many times. However, once they started preschool last fall, things clicked and they started to say their own names. Everyone in our family (immediate and extended) and all of our friends were so excited! Now when one was in doubt, all you had to do was ask "what's your name?" and you would get a correct answer. Until yesterday...

Our babysitter was putting them down for their naps and, in order to place him in the right bed, asked W what his name was. First, he said W. and she went to tuck him into his bed. As she did so, he said "No, no that not my bed. I go in the other bed. I'm D." He said all of this giggling and grinning. Needless to say, she finally got them sorted out, but we are all dismayed that the trickery has begun at such a young age. I thought we had a couple of years at least before we had to deal with this.

I am reminded of a story that we heard when we were expecting the boys. We were sitting in the doctor's office waiting for a room, and the most adorable pharmaceutical rep sat down next to us and struck up a conversation. When she heard that we were having identical twins, she told us that she was an identical twin. Then she told us a story that we have vowed NOT to forget. When she and her sister were in high school, they would take turns going home in time for curfew on the weekends. Their parents would always be in bed, but the rule was that they had to go into their parents' bedroom when they returned to let them know they were home. So, one girl would go in and out of the room TWICE, pretending to be both herself and the other sister. They got away with this for a whole year before their parents caught on to it...at which point they were grounded for eternity. Once they were "ungrounded" they always had to present themselves TOGETHER in their parents' bedroom.

So, D & W, here is at least one trick that mom and dad are already wise to. I'm sure you'll think of lots of other things to keep us on our toes, though.

Funny Boys

One of the boys' favorite books is The Very Hungry Caterpillar (like most kids). W was "reading" it to us at dinner last night (we were waiting on our food at a restaurant...forever), and when he got to the end of the part where the caterpillar has eaten himself sick (I can sadly relate), he said "that night he had a Tummy Cake (a.k.a. stomach ache)." We had to get him to repeat himself like 10 times because it was just so cute (at least to mom, dad, grandparents, and great-grandparents).

(For the record (my record)--They both love to read and be read to. Some of their other favorites are Going on a Bear Hunt, Barnyard Dance, Brown Bear, Polar Bear, Goodnight Gorilla, and Where the Wild Things Are.)

D's latest cute saying is "gimme have it please" when he wants something. I guess it's a combination of "give it to me" and "let me have it please." This is great not only because it's cute but because it shows him starting to assert himself more. He is such a laid back little guy, and I am thrilled to see him starting to make his preferences known!

Every day with these two is more fun than the one before!

PJ update

Since this blog is mainly for the purpose of helping me not forget every single thing my kids ever did, I want to update on the problem I described a few weeks ago wherein Thing 1 and Thing 2 were stripping naked and peeing in their beds at night and at naptime. I think I mentioned that we put them in their pjs backwards (the zip up kind with feet) and this pretty well stopped Thing 2 from further mischief (except that now he takes his sheet off and then, when I go get him up, says "I take my sheet off, Mama. It's a no-no"). Thing 1 however...was another story. He found that while he couldn't reach the zipper or undo the snap at the top, he could work his shoulders through the neck-hole and thus "houdini" his way out of the pjs...and his diaper. So, my husband had the truly (I mean actually truly, not saracastically truly) brilliant idea of using some old pjs that are too small and cutting the feet out to make them long enough. This has worked beautifully! They are very snug, but not uncomfortably so, and the neck is small enough that he can't wiggle his way out of them (we still put them on backwards).

Now, I am sure that there are those who would think that we should discipline them out of this habit and not just "accomodate" our way around it. But really...it is hard to come up with a consequence for behavior that takes place mainly in the middle of the night...and mama and daddy just want to go to sleep. Living with 29 teenage girls, not to mention our own three, leaves sleep at premium for both of us (see post below as to what girls consider valid reasons for waking you up in the dead middle of the night). So, we do pretty much whatever it takes to maximize our own slumber time.

As I said, Thing 2 loves to take his sheet off now, though only at naptime and not at bedtime. Thing 1 has a new trick though and it is so cute. He gets completely under his FITTED crib sheet (yes, they are still in cribs..they aren't potty trained either...and they turned 3 in November...I am up for the 2007 WORLD'S WORST MOMMY AWARD). When I say completely under, I mean he takes his blanky and disappears under the sheet. Then he falls sound asleep. Because I'm, you know, paranoid and neurotic, I extricate him once he is asleep. He never wakes up.

Again, the things they think of that never EVER crossed their sister's mind. And to think...I have another one on the way! But, really they are so precious and sweet almost all the time that I can't fault them their bed-time antics.

Bedtime Woes

I have two of the most adorable three year old twin boys. Really--they are just the cutest things ever. But, we have a problem that is just about to drive us nuts. They will NOT--I mean WILL NOT leave their pajamas/clothes and diapers or pull-ups on when we put them to bed (at night or naptime). Last night, we had to go in three times to "redress" one of them. Sometimes we even have to change sheets multiple times. Almost every night for the last week I have had to go in as I went to bed and "redress" one of them (it's always the same one--he just will not give up). The "younger" of the two will usually only do it once and then go on to sleep, but the other little rascal will not go to sleep unless he is completely NAKED. NAKED just-turned-three year olds inevitably lead to wet sheets (and wet pajamas if they happen to be in the line of fire).

We are working on potty training. They will often go when we put them on the potty, but they never ask to go. In other words, they appear to have no interest in it. Our daughter was so EASY to train. She basically just decided she was ready and that was that. Something tells me we are in for a whole new ball game. These guys think of things their sister never, ever even dreamed of.

Please if anyone has ANY suggestions...let me know! In the meantime, I'll be washing sheets...