Sleeping Arrangements

Over the past few months we have slowly eased the unsuspecting Toby into his new life in the basement so that the baby can take his old room upstairs. We are not cruel parents; our house is only two levels with our bedroom on the main floor and the living room and kids room(s) in the basement. As we did with Toby, the baby will start upstairs and the Grandparents have the luxury of guest-rooming beside Toby in the basement until the new one is old enough to not have me running down stairs for 3 am feeds…

Toby has done exceptionally well with the move. He LOVES his big boy bed and his big boy room AND his froggy bathroom and proudly shows it off to everyone who comes to visit. In fact, I was showing around a lady who is (hopefully) going to start doing some cleaning for us and Toby just ASSUMED she had come to see HIS new room so bravely overcame his shyness to grab her by the hand and lead her to the downstairs so she could see his room before she’d even glanced at the rest of the house. I’m hoping his charm has won her over ;)

This weekend I realized the transition was officially complete when Toby remarked that this upstairs room was no longer his and WHAT was it going to be used for? I told him that that was where the baby was going to sleep.

He was shocked. And then heartbroken.

Why was the baby going to sleep UPSTAIRS?

I explained why she (OR HE!!!) was going to start upstairs but that when the baby got older (like him) s/he could move downstairs, too.

This brought on a slew of questions that came in quick succession. Where would she sleep when she got older? How would we get the crib downstairs? Why couldn’t she just sleep downstairs right away?

I responded as best I could, answering both the logistical (Daddy could take the crib apart and then put it back together downstairs) and more emotionally sensitive (she or HE would sleep in Grandma and Grandpa’s room downstairs) topics. I then held my breath and waited. After months of being so subtle about the move and not wanting to disturb his world or make him feel at all usurped, THIS was the moment of truth…

As all good conversational pauses go, he took a mouthful of cheerios and thought about things carefully before responding with exasperation,

“But why can’t she just sleep right BESIDE me in my bed?”