I can’t remember when exactly Enzo gave up his nighttime bottles, but it was probably shortly before Phoebe was born. We were settling down for our nighttime routine and when I offered him his nightcap, he just sort of shrugged and shook his head.  I’m not sure what exactly made me decide to try and see if Phoebe was ready to give up her bottles or not… she’s pretty attached to her baba.

When we got back from vacation, though, I gave her a sippy with some milk for our nighttime snuggles and she was okay with it.  So, there you go. Granted, there are nights where she gets downright mad that I’m offering her a sippy instead of a bottle, but overall she’s gotten used to it and soon she won’t need it at all.  While it may not seem like a big deal, these moments and milestones can be so bittersweet. How can she be growing up so fast?

Maybe that’s why I haven’t been as keen on making her stay in her crib all night and haven’t given a thought to toddler beds or other things that will push infancy further and further behind us.  Enzo was in a toddler bed by 18 months, I think – mostly because he showed readiness and was much happier.  We knew Phoebe was on the way, so we also knew that bedsharing with him wouldn’t be feasible.  While I don’t mind snuggling my kiddos, they are both very active sleepers and would only keep each other (and us) awake all night.  I do know that Enzo gets a tad jealous when he realizes that Phoebe has been sleeping with us, so it is probably an arrangement we will need to change soon.

Ugh, they’re growing up so fast, which is both awesome and hard. I’m not a fan of the sassiness and tantrums that come with older toddlers/preschoolers, but I love how imaginative Enzo is and that we can share in things we couldn’t before. I’m grateful that Phoebe is still a snuggler and while I try to keep her a baby as long as possible, each day is exciting as she learns new words and attempts to copy her brother.

I am especially thankful for a short work week after a not so very restful night… or rather several nights.  We’re adjusting things and hoping that Enzo will not keep fighting bedtime and will also not keep waking up in the middle of the night, but in the meantime, Phoebe has also decided not to sleep through the night.  We’ve all been a bit fussy due to lack of sleep.  Remember moments like this? I do… I do.

Last night it started with an earlier bedtime for Enzo, however it was still an hour later before he finally stayed put in bed.  We think his clock may be too bright now… go figure.  However, he still woke up at midnight, so I stumbled into his room and ended up laying down with him, only to wake up at 2:00am because I could hear Phoebe squirming and fussing in her crib.  Josh was blissfully sleeping, despite the monitor by his head, so I found her pacifier and crawled back into our bed.  Around 3:00, though, Phoebe was standing up in her crib and fussing.  I may have swatted Josh a few times and told him it was his turn to get up.  Baby girl was wide awake, though. Josh changed her and she continued to stay wide awake in our bed rolling around, crawling on top of us.

Then at around 4:00, I heard Enzo again… he was back and whining at the gate in his doorway.  Up I got, and talked Enzo into crawling back into bed by agreeing to lay down with him again.  He put his hand on my arm this time – probably trying to make sure I wouldn’t get up again.  He fell asleep, though, and aroudn 4:30 I headed back to our bed… only to find Baby Girl had completely taken over my side of the bed.  I gave up and made Josh give up part of his half and managed to close my eyes for half an hour before it was time to get up.  All this to say… I’m tired and really looking forward to a short week even though it won’t mean sleeping in like it would have in the past.  Ha ha.  Maybe we can convince the kiddos to sleep until 6:00 or 7:00 if we’re lucky.  😉