A lot of people have been asking about how the sleeping situation is going, so here’s my update: it’s been a week and I *think* we’re starting to see some improvements at bedtime. We put S down first, wait until she’s asleep, and then sneak L in. We read to L outside his room while S falls asleep. (Poor S gets no books. We have been reading L bedtime stories since he was maybe 5 weeks old. Every nap, every bedtime. Typical first baby stuff, right? Poor little S has had only a handful of books read to her in her lifetime so far, and most of those were “read” by L.) With this staggered bedtime approach, they seem to be able to settle themselves in and go to sleep fairly well.

The problem is the morning. L naturally sleeps until about 7:00. S, lately, wakes up at 5 or earlier and is ready for the day. She lets us know this by screaming. If she were in her own room, I’d probably let her cry awhile and she’d probably go back to sleep. But in L’s room, it’s harder. So I’ve tried a few things, and none have been perfect.

1. I tried quickly running in and taking her out of L’s room. This does wake L up, but he may go back to sleep. Not perfect because then I’m stuck being awake with a wakeful baby at 5AM.
2. I tried quietly going in to give S her paci and turn her music box on. Not perfect because although it does quiet her, she is screaming again about 6 minutes later.
3. I tried leaving her for a bit. Not perfect because then L wakes up, climbs in the crib, and tells her jokes until morning. This seems like a great solution, but trust me, none of you would want to be around L on a day when he woke up at 5.

I’m leaning towards sticking with option 3 and just letting the two of them sort it out themselves. I can’t decide if this is because I think it’s a good parenting approach, of if it’s because I’m lazy and just want to see if it works out OK in the end with little effort on my part. It’s likely because of the latter, but may end up being the former as well just by luck! Fingers crossed!