The first night we moved into the new house, Greenleigh asked to sleep in Hazeline’s room. It was late, like 3 hours past her bedtime, and I was just happy that she was agreeing to go to sleep in a “strange” house, so I thought it would be okay. Erajh on the other hand, put up a bit of a fight, telling her that we all sleep in our own rooms. And he’s right. I’ve been fairly adamant about the girls sleeping in their own rooms since they were 6-ish months old. Co-sleeping is great for lots of people, but doesn’t work for us. Unless the girls are sick or completely inconsolable for some reason, they sleep in their own rooms at night. But I figured, why make it a bigger deal than it is? It’s 11pm, we’re all tired, lets just put her to bed already. So we did, with Greenleigh in Hazeline’s room, and Hazeline in Greenleigh’s room.
In the morning, Erajh and I chatted about it, and determined that Greenleigh was probably scared that there were so many boxes in her room. That was it, we thought. Of course she wouldn’t want to sleep there. We became determined to get her room unpacked quickly. But as it happens sometimes, lots of unexpected things came up that weekend (delivery of non-working appliances, Hazeline had a little cold, and we still had to clean the old place out), and Greenleigh’s room didn’t get unpacked as quickly as we wanted it to. In all reality, what we wanted to have done in a day, ended up taking 5 days and required the help of a friend to complete. But it finally got done.
When I walked Greenleigh into her unpacked room, she happily ran to play with the toys she hadn’t seen in over 2 weeks because they’d been boxed up. We chatted about her kitchen being in her room (it was in the living room before) and how her Minnie Mouse collection was exactly where it was in the old house. I even had the painted in the exact same shade of purple as her old room. After discussing how great her new room was, I said, “Now you can sleep here tonight.” To which she responded, “No, I want to sleep in Hazie’s room.” I pressed for an explanation, but she just kept repeating “I want to sleep in Hazie’s room”. So again I caved.
Night after night I would try to talk her into sleeping in her room, to no avail.
For seventeen nights, we’ve put Greenleigh in Hazeline’s room, and Hazeline in Greenleigh’s room. Try as I might, I just can’t figure out why she won’t sleep in her room. Make no mistake, she knows it’s her room. If a guest asks to see her room, Greenleigh will lead them right up the stairs and into her purple room. But she won’t sleep there. I painted it the same color, set it up in a similar way, and added some of her favorite toys. Greenleigh and Hazeline’s rooms are virtually identical in size and layout. They are on the same floor, right across from each other, and the same distance from our room. Why won’t she sleep there? In fact, Hazeline’s room might have a ghost. Why would a toddler opt to sleep there? Not to mention, Hazeline’s room isn’t 100% set up yet – there are still a few boxes and storage bins to go through.
Naturally, I can’t help but wonder if I should have nipped this in the bud the first night, like Erajh said. On the other hand, it isn’t hurting anything, so why make an issue over it? Long ago, the pediatrician told me to pick my battles. She said to focus on the battles related to health, hygiene, and safety. Fight those, she said; everything else will work itself out. Where she sleeps doesn’t really affect her health, safety, or hygiene. Why have her cry and scream over something that just isn’t worth it? Why get her so upset over something so inconsequential? But I worry about letting the inmates run the asylum (trust me, sometimes it really feels like I live in an asylum). I’m the mom and I make the rules. Or at least that’s how it’s supposed to go.
I’ve contemplated tricking her by saying that her room is now Hazeline’s room or even switching the rooms entirely (and permanently), but before I do that, I figured I would check in and see if anyone had been through this before. What would you do?
