Pink P, Ninja Sleeper

After years of multiple night-time awakenings, the pediatrician ordered a sleep test for Pink P. Her reasoning: before we tighten the screws with behavioral interventions, we need to make sure there are no medical reasons for Pink's actions. After years of disciplining Sky for doing stuff caused by his ASD, I'm all for making sure I don't do the same thing to his sister. 

Pink was unnaturally excited about the idea of sleeping in the hospital with Mommy. Seems she interpreted it as a girls night out (Maybe we should get out more?). The new pajamas with pink fleece shorts certainly helped. Beforehand, we talked to her about the procedure. Sky explained it best: "They're gonna put a bunch of stickers on you, but it won't hurt." Just in case, I packed a couple of her favorite DVDs.

It turns out I shouldn't have been worried about whether or not Pink P would sleep. But I should have worried about whether the one-year old in the room next door was going to sleep. It kinda stinks to leave my own one-year old at home only to have a different one-year old keep me up all night. At least with my own kid, I get a chance to sit in a cozy chair and snuggle. The most ridiculously uncomfortable pull-out couch at the sleep center didn't help my mood at all. And seriously, if you're going to do sleep tests, shouldn't you soundproof the walls and put the helipad on the other side of the building?

But enough about me and my grumpiness. Here's a picture (click to enlarge):



For the record: she slept like a rock. Probably better than's she's slept in a long time. In fact, she's slept soundly every night since. Figures.

Proving Once Again that Ren is Actually a Superhero in Disguise

Adding to the list of choices I know I will regret?

Bunk Beds.

The tadpole scenario played out as expected,* so clearly I need to get my thrills and chills elsewhere.

Every parent I know with bunk beds hates them. It's next-to-impossible to make the beds in the morning, and changing the sheets takes real commitment. Plus, there's always a chance a kid will plummet to the ground in a groggy attempt to make a midnight trip to the bathroom. And I know Sky and Pink P will invent a game that requires alternate paths to the top bunk (and down again).

I know all this, and yet...And yet, when I saw this, the choice was clear. I had to have these bunk beds.



Curse you Costco! Curse you! I tried to resist, I really did. But this set up was $500 cheaper than any other I'd seen, and I had been feeling guilty about forcing my taller-than-average four-year old to sleep in a toddler bed.

So, on Saturday, I left Ren home with the kids, and headed with a friend to the nearest Costco fifty miles (or, over an hour) away. By the time we got a flat-bed cart and found someone to help us load the bed onto it, an Asian couple was wheeling the last bunk beds "in stock" out the door. Perhaps I should have taken this as a sign from God. But, I didn't. Instead, I drove to a second Costco 20 minutes away and managed to snag the last one there. (Apparently it was buy-a-bunk-bed day at Costco.) Amazingly, the two boxes and twin mattress fit perfectly into the back of the car, and after a quick trip to Target to buy bedding for the new beds (ponies for Pink P and Star Wars for Sky), we headed home.



Years of packing and unpacking with kids have taught Ren and I that we can only get things done in the dead of night when the kids are asleep. So, we settled Sky and Pink P into an indoor "camp out" in the study and finally began building the bed around 9:30 p.m. First, we carried the bed piece by piece from the car. Then, after considerable deliberation and three furniture rearrangements, we started putting it together.

By 1 a.m., we had this:



Things were looking good. I even allowed myself to entertain the notion that I might get to sleep.

Then catastrophe struck. The washing machine tried to eat Pink P's new comforter, leaving it mangled.

Fortunately, I'm married to a superhero, because at 2:00 a.m., Ren was doing this:



And then, we had this (sorry I didn't take a "before" picture of the gaping hole. I was too distraught):



I know it's not beautiful, but it looks way better than anything I would have pulled off, and it kept me from having a major mommy meltdown. Oh, and the only reason Ren let me post this picture of his "inferior" handiwork (see the uneven stitching?) is because I assured him you would understand that he doesn't do his best sewing at 2:00 in the morning in a semi-dark room, especially when his back hurts.

Finally, at 2:45 a.m. (and four loads of laundry later), we had this:



*****

Of course the kids are thrilled. And I'm pretty happy about the unintended bonus: Sky thinks his new bed is the perfect escape when his senses start to be overloaded.

We already had the tent for hiding:



And the swing for calming:



And now we have the top bunk for when he needs to "take a break":



Maybe next we will even have a night or two of uninterrupted sleep.




*Except instead of growing two frogs in Dagoba Swamp, we buried one, and released the other into a friend's pond; apparently that sucker needs at least another year before he springs some legs. I won't lie. I'm not heartbroken that I won't see him become a full-grown bullfrog.