Bunkmates

The boys are now sleeping in the same room, together, in bunk beds. We ordered the beds back in October, and the salesman said it would take two to three weeks to get them in. In the fourth week, I called and checked on the order. I called again in the fifth week. They finally arrived in the sixth week. I’m very annoyed at that. It completely screwed up our plans.

I put the beds together, myself. The boys were very excited about getting the bunk beds, and they were very anxious to help me. They got all giddy when we finally arranged everything in the room, with the mattresses made up and ready for sleeping. We got them in bed at 7:00, but it took another 10 minutes to actually get them settled and turn out the lights.

It was decided that I should sit in a chair in the room with them until they fell asleep. There was no way the two of them would stay calm if left together, alone. In the shadows of the night light, I kept reminding them to be quiet, lay down, and be still. They fed off each other’s actions and sounds:

Calfgrit6: <turn over>
Calfgrit3: “He’s making noise.”
Me: “Shhhhh.”
CG6: <cough, cough>
CG3: <cough, cough>
CG6: <giggle>
CG3: <laugh>
Me: “Boys, be quiet.”
CG3: <tap, tap, tap>
CG6: “Stop that, you’re keeping me awake.”
CG3: “Sorry.”
CG6: “Goodnight, Daddy.”
CG3: “Goodnight, Daddy.”
Me: “Goodnight, boys, for the tenth time.”
CG6: <sits up>
Me: “Lay down.”
CG6: <lays down with a thump>
CG3: <sits up>
Me: “You lay down, too.
CG3: <lays down with a thump>
CG3: <cough, cough>
CG6: <cough, cough>
. . . on and on and on and on.

After about 10 minutes, they had both coughed enough that I thought medicine was necessary. I stepped out of the bedroom for a moment to tell Cowgrit the boys needed medicine for coughing. I added, in a whisper, “And it might make them fall asleep, too.”

Cowgrit smiled and said, “Okay. I’ll get some medicine for their ‘cough.'” She made the quote signs with her fingers. She brought two doses of cough medicine into the room and the boys drank them.

As she was leaving the room, she said, “That should help them stop ‘coughing.'” Again with the finger quotes.

The boys continued their quiet noises and talking for another 20 minutes before they started showing signs of winding down. Whether the medicine helped put them to sleep or not, they did finally get quiet and still by 7:45. I gave them another five minutes just to be sure, and then I left the room.

“They really were coughing,” I explained when I walked into the den.

“I know,” said Cowgrit. “I heard them. I was just joking with you.”

“Okay. Good,” I said. But I wonder how long it would have taken for them to fall asleep without the medicine.

We went to bed soon there after, ourselves; we didn’t know what the night would have in store for us, and we prayed the boys would sleep till at least 6:00 am. We dreaded the distinct possibility that we’d hear laughing at 4:00.

* * *

At 3:00 am, both boys came into our room. “He woke me up.” I don’t remember which one said it.

We got them both back in their beds, and we went back to our bed. A few minutes later, we could hear them giggling. So I went back to my guard duty in their room. They tossed and turned and whispered for an hour, until we decided to take the most troublesome boy out of the room. Calfgrit3 went to sleep with Cowgrit, in our bed. I went to the sofa.

Calfgrit3 woke up at 6:00, and our day started. The first night with bunk beds was . . . tiresome.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com