Today was week 5 of drop-off playgroup for Buba and Tiny. We didn’t have playgroup last Monday due to the holiday, but I did leave the kids at childcare when I went to book club on Friday. They both did fine there for almost 90 minutes, so I decided it was time to try leaving for a bit during playgroup today. We arrived about 5 minutes late, and both kids walked right in and started in with activities. I talked briefly with the teachers about my plans to leave and what to do to help soothe Buba should he be upset about my absence. My understanding is that he was fine until he got spooked by some loud noises in the music area, and that’s when Buba lost it. But still, I got to spend almost 30 minutes down in the waiting room by myself before needing to return to take my place at the mommy bench. And that seems like huge progress to me. Plus, Buba was totally fine with going to circle time and snack time this week. Yes, I still had to accompany him, but he didn’t cry as he had during previous weeks.

Buba is still wearing undies during the day. He is now telling me when he has to go, or will just go to the potty in our house and go all by himself. He has very few pee accidents and no poop accidents. However, he still will only poop in a diaper at nap and/or nighttime. I’ve tried enticing him with a reward and putting him on the potty right before nap and nighttime, but still no successes in that department. Maybe by the end of summer, I hope…

Tiny continues to wake at night on a fairly regular basis (maybe 4-5 nights a week). At first I thought is was bad dreams, then I thought it was out of need to use the potty. I am no longer convinced that it is either of these things. T and I have been taking turns going in to soothe them (because inevitably, Buba always wakes up too), and it usually just takes a minute or two, but the fragmented sleep definitely isn’t good for any of us. I’ve begun reading the months 22-36 section in the Weissbluth sleep book, and we may try to implement some of the strategies in there. This week I’ll just be collecting data so I know for sure exactly how often the night wakings are occurring.

I’m way, way behind on my blog reading again (especially on those with daily or multiple posts each week), but I hope to catch up soon. Many thanks to Mandy from My Life as Described by Twin Trials and Triumphs for passing on the Trendy Blog Award. We’ve recently bonded through our only-child-all-grown-up-and-now-raising-twins connection and have enjoyed swapping book and CD titles. If you haven’t already checked out her site, you definitely should!

But on that particular night, the crying didn’t stop, and by 3:25am, Tiny wasn’t just crying, she was screaming, “Mommy! Mommy!” This had never happened before. Never. She had never ever called for me in the middle of the night. Not even when she was sick with a stomach bug.

I rolled over towards T, and we both agreed that I should break our no intervention policy and go to her. When I got to the kids’ room, Tiny was standing up in her crib, and she immediately reached out for me. Unfortunately, Buba began to stir at that same moment, so now I had two crying kids on my hands. I quickly removed Tiny from the bedroom and took her into the kitchen, thinking that maybe Buba wasn’t fully awake and would go back to sleep, but no such luck. He continued to cry and scream for me as I worked to calm Tiny down.

The whole house was dark, and I could see that Tiny was somewhat surprised by that. As I checked to see if she felt feverish, I explained that it was still nighttime and that T and Pokey were sleeping. I told her that she and Buba needed to go back to sleep too and asked if she was ready to go back to her crib. She agreed, and then I went through the whole thing again with Buba.

With both kids calm again, I headed back to bed. I could hear them chatting for another 30 minutes or so, and was still awake more than an hour after I’d first heard Tiny’s cries. But in the morning, I still felt fairly rested and just hoped that the night waking was a one-time only deal.

Unfortunately, that was not the case. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights both kids slept right through as usual, but Saturday night (technically Sunday morning) just after midnight, Tiny woke up crying again. Her cries were not quite as loud, and I hoped she’d fall back to sleep quickly, but she didn’t. She was screaming, “Mommy! Mommy!” just as before, but this time I felt more conflicted about what to do. If I went to her, would the night waking become a habit? Would Tiny start to expect to see me in the middle of the night? But before I even rolled over to voice my thoughts, T said, “Don’t go in.” He was thinking that the night wakings would only continue if Tiny knew I would come each time and that she was old enough to self-soothe and get herself back to sleep.

So I didn’t go in, but I sent T to discreetly scope out the situation. He came back to report that she seemed fine, was not caught in the crib bars or anything and that she appeared to be winding down. Right about this time, Buba woke up and cried a bit, but he was able to get back to sleep pretty quickly and luckily slept through the rest of Tiny’s on and off crying, which lasted about 50 minutes in total.

By 1:15am, the house was quiet again (except for T’s snoring), so I quietly crept down to the kids’ room to see for myself that Tiny was okay. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to fall back to sleep without checking in on the kids for myself. Once I saw that they were both sleeping peacefully, I crawled back into bed and hoped to sleep soundly until morning.

Unfortunately, it turned out to be a horrible night for me. While everyone else slept the night away, I tossed and turned and had horrible dreams when I did finally sleep. I think I may have gotten roughly 4 hours of sleep that night, and I woke feeling groggy and cranky.

Thankfully, last night we all slept soundly, but who knows what’s in store for the nights ahead. I mean, we’ve had 17 months of kids’ sleeping through the night, and I guess I just assumed that it would continue that way forever. Why is Tiny suddenly waking up when she’s been such a good sleeper for so long? I suppose I should go and dig out the Weissbluth book before I find myself awake in the middle of the night again wondering what to do.