I have been attempting to sleep train my children again. Most nights I spend an hour to 90 minutes laying down with them to get them to sleep. Gabby still nurses to sleep and even if she seems sound asleep, as soon as I move from her side I hear “Mommy where you going?”. It can be infuriating and I can get easily frustrated. Elijah has no problems falling asleep. If I am there he will usually fall asleep in about 5 minutes, which was also the case last night. The problem came in when I tried to get up to leave and Gabby started crying. I tried so hard to stand my ground and just let her cry it out. Then Elijah woke up and fed up with her crying, he started complaining. I was then privy to a conversation between the two of them, which I was relaying to a friend via WhatsApp while it was all happening. This is a transcript of that chat:
Both these kids are howling in bed. Snot en trane.
They are now plotting to run away together tomorrow.
They plan to take the fish with them.
Gabby is asking where my fish will be.
She doesn’t understand how the fish tank goes with them and my fish stays here.
Elijah says he will buy another tank.
Mommy is rude. Now they are talking about how they will move to Salma (a neighbour) and Salma’s mommy will make them food.
They have now realized they can’t have another mommy, that I’m their mommy no matter what.
This messes with their plans.
They are legit blowing their noses and having a mother of a snot fest.
I so much want to comfort them.
Gabby: I want boooooooobies!
Elijah: Mommy won’t come. She is rude.
Gabby: I got a plan now.
*whispering*
I can’t take much more of this.
They hate me.
Elijah says I don’t care about them.
Gabby is screaming at me that I hate them. Why won’t I lay there?
Elijah: Mommy cares more about sleep than she cares about us.
Gabby is still shouting at me because I hate them. Elijah agrees, because I am doing this. They are each trying to take the blame. She hates me. No, she hates me. I wish I could record this. Gabby can’t stop crying. She needs her boobies. This is torture. Gabby says her heart is breaking for mommy right now.
Elijah tries to negotiate. Mommy, just give her 5 minute boobies please!
Gabby: No! I want INFINITY boobies!
I can’t take this. It’s killing me.
To my credit, they both feared leaving the room. They were warned not to. Every now and then I would tell them “I love you. Go to sleep!”, especially amidst all the “MOMMY YOU HATE US!”. Eventually they both mustered up the courage to shuffle slowly towards my room…very close together, in case either of them gets into trouble. Once they hit the threshold their confidence soared and Gabby climbed onto my bed. Elijah followed suit and suddenly all the tears were forgotten.
While I obviously failed at my attempt to sleep train these monkeys, I managed to redeem myself in their eyes I guess. I had to chuckle at their plans to move out and can now definitely see how parents can claim their kids gang up and plot against them. It was heart wrenching and hilarious at the same time.
Once they finally fall asleep they are adorable though
I don’t know what I am going to do. Sleep training one at a time is hard enough, but sleep training two seems impossible. Since Elijah doesn’t actually have a problem falling asleep, he is not my challenge. Gabby wakes him up when she cries and then they are both whining for some sort of comfort. I don’t want to spend so much time putting them to sleep each night. I need a little time in the evening to myself to unwind, gather my thoughts and relax before I go to bed myself. On the one hand I think that they are only going to be little for so long and eventually I won’t be welcome to lay down with them as they drift off. On the other hand I need to maintain my sanity.
What would you do?
Thanks for reading 🙂
