Parenthood: Week 427 – Roommates

I’m not sure if it was the fact that Ethan was learned how to launch himself out of his crib or the fact that Lucas was outgrowing his mini-crib, but it felt like it was the right time for a change. Lucas moving to a regular crib was a no-brainier. The question was what to do with Ethan.

Ethan was making good progress with his sleeping, and we figured that having him share a room with Ollie could be fun. Yes, it could be a disaster, but at the same time, it could help Ethan sleep and be fun for the boys. The thing is that it’s not like sleeping arrangements aren’t an irreversible decision, so we went for it.

Bunk beds just didn’t work for me, and seeing how Ethan launched himself out of his crib, I did not want to give him something higher to climb. So we went with a trundle bed. Growing up, my bed was a trundle bed that we would use when we had guests over.

We built this up for the boys. Diana let them pick out new sheets and a special pillow. Ollie chose Harry Potter as his theme and got some sheets of small pictures from the Harry Potter universe and a pillow with the Gryffindor crest on it. Ethan chose white sheets with little unicorns, and Diana found a pillow shaped like a unicorn. This got both of them excited.

Ollie and Ethan have shared a room for most of this school year, and it’s been interesting to observe.

There are challenging nights. Sometimes one of them is annoying or doesn’t settle down to sleep. There are the nights when we have to be stern with them to get them to settle down, which is never fun. Then there are mornings when one of them gets up early and gets the other up, which they have now learned not to do.

Most of the time, there is laughter in the room as they get ready for bed. Lucas often toddles in the room and joins with them, giggling the whole time. While there are times that Ethan and Ollie get territorial with their beds and do not want anyone in their bed, there are many nights when I find them in the same bed looking at a book together.

Every night before I got to bed, I check on the boys. I almost always find Ethan and Lucas lying face to face. As if they fell asleep mid-conversation, they are sleeping as close to each other as possible. There will be a day when it doesn’t make sense for Ollie and Ethan to share a room, but for right now, there is joy in them sharing this space and comfort as they feel each other presence when they sleep.