They're going to bed at 8:00 or 8:30, period.
Ethan has been able to climb out of the crib for a long time now, but he doesn't. He stays in the crib with his sister and they chat, sing, and fall asleep. When I go in to check on them, no words are spoken if they are awake. It is the time of disengagement. It's a look, maybe a re-position of limbs, an un-stack, an un-tangle, a spread of the blanket, but absolutely no words are spoken.
Not long before the big transition, Ethan started requesting a stuffed animal to sleep with, usually his little monkey. So I'd give him his monkey and Emma my old favorite stuffed mouse, Fredrick, to snuggle and they were happy. They seemed to feel like they were given an extra, a perk.
One night when Rodney checked on them before bed, he came to me and said, "Did you give the kids all kinds of stuffed animals?? Go look at them!" I went in to their room and Ethan was sitting upright, awake, and Emma was buried in stuffed animals.... Every stuffed animal in their room, big and small, was in the crib on top of sleeping Emma and all around Ethan, and he was just sitting there, dead pan in the corner of the crib: "Yep, that oughtta do it."
It was then that I knew that the crib had run its course. It was time to make use of the toddler bed that had previously only been used for monkey-jumping. Yet, I was frozen in the habit of the crib, not completely willing to let go of the baby nights, the singing and rocking and then carrying babies over and lowering their ever-getting-heavy bodies into the safety of the crib, and the the false sense of security that it provided me.
Kacie babysat one night and when the kids fell asleep, she laid them in their toddler bed. She couldn't reach into the crib as I can, so she unknowingly, out of necessity, moved the kids into the next step of their lives. I bet she didn't know how significant that moment was...not until we came home.
When we came home and I realized, I'm sure she figured out that this was a very big deal. I became so excited and happy for the kids and we all three rushed into the room by the light of the hallway and admired the big kids. I hugged Kacie and thanked her for helping me get over the emotional mountain of the toddler bed. We took her picture with them, and I never felt so proud of my niece and of my kids. She acted like it was nothing--what she had done. But it wasn't nothing; it was definitely something.
And now they do it every night.
This morning at 4:00am was the first time they ever came out of their bed too soon. They had turned on the living room lights and started the day. Ethan was playing with his dump truck and, thankfully, Emma came into our room to say good morning.
*Gasp*-- "Night-night!" I whispered loudly. I turned the lights back off, gathered them up and herded them back to their bedroom. Ethan whined and protested. "Shhhh, shhhh," and I tucked them back in. "Night night," I said as I crossed my fingers, hoping they'd follow suit.
And they did. They laid in bed (as far as I know) quietly but for a few mumbling exchanges until about 7:00.
I guess this is it.... My babies are big kids.
