recent sleep developments

Well, after a week of no nap for Sydney I don't think it's coming back:( It's very sad. She does have quiet time in her room for about an hour. I'm not sure how long she'll go for that. We tried something to get her to continue napping--sleeping on the top bunk of her bunk beds. Which we had been set on her not doing until she was 5. She tried very hard to fall asleep, but "was having trouble". So now she just has to be quiet and look at books and play with whatever her imagination can handle up there (which is a lot). Last night she wanted to sleep up there for bed time. I wasn't going to let her, but Phil said we could use it to our advantage b/c it could be a reward. If she's getting into trouble she has to sleep on the bottom again. And I started not to worry so much about safety when she showed me how she could easily climb up and down the side of her bed closest to the wall with no ladder! So we got out the ladder and take it away after her quiet time and in the morning b/c Mollie is NOT allowed to get up there. Also, we explained that it's not a place to play. You don't get up there unless it's a rest time. No friends up there or playing on the top bunk.

I told her that she has to let me know in the mornings before she is coming down so that I can watch /listen out for her. Our room is downstairs and theirs are up so we have a 2 way monitor so we can talk back and forth like walkie-talkies. She also very rarely gets up during the night so that's not a big concern. This morning she said, "mommy, can I come down now?" And she did and she was so happy.
So, this is just another way you break your own rules as a parent! I'm sure there will be more.

We eventually plan to move Mollie in there with her. We have the small dresser built in to the bed and a seperate dresser with mirror, plus a good size closet. Hopefully that will be enough room for their stuff. Well, it will be if I stay out of Old Navy and Gymboree;) We thought they would enjoy sleeping together for a while as they get a little older. Since they're both girls and so close in age. And I think you learn a lot from sharing a room. Then if they're like 12 and want to be seperate again, that's fine, we have the room.

Now Sydney goes to bed at 7:30 if she has no nap. Mollie gets to "stay up late" until 8 because she takes a nap. If Sydney decides one day to nap we'll let her stay up too, maybe until 8:30!!
Here is a picture of Sydney on the top bunk. You can see part of Mollie looking very sad at the bottom of the ladder!