Our Current Bedtime Routine

We have recently moved the kids into the same bedroom - a very brave feat, when it comes to cajoling our almost-four-year-old (who had a room to himself all his life) to share it with his baby sister. But so far, so good. Well, I mean, good is relative, especially when it comes to the world of parenting.

The first night Luke had a nightmare and screamed, and then Madison woke up screaming. Put the kids down again and they slept till the morning. Not too bad.

Second night, repeat, but replace Luke's nightmare with LOUD sleeptalking.

Tonight, so far, so good (again, relatively speaking). Fed and put Madison down to sleep at 7pm, then story time with Luke in my bed till 7:30pm. When we finished, I reminded Luke of our entry strategy that we have been practicing for the past two nights: walk on tippy toes, no making sudden or loud noises, and whisper if need to communicate. Luke has gotten the routine down mostly, and the two of us tiptoed into his room and laid down in his bed.

And his bed CREAKED.
And that woke Madison up and she started crying.
Crap! I thought.

But then, noticing that Madison was just slightly agitated, I whispered to Luke,"Let's play a game. Let's pretend we are not here so that Madison will stop crying." Luke LOVES pretending so my suggestion was like the greatest thing happened to him today. After a few minutes of us stiffening our bodies, smiling and shooting knowing glances at each other in silence, Madison fell back asleep and both kids are peaceful and quiet until now...

Tag-team hour: When Matt's around (today he just went to Cambodia so I had to put both kids down), usually he heads up story time while I feed and put Madison down first.