Last night, no matter what my solution was, someone in my house was upset. It was a hard night. No compromise was good enough, no solution worked for everyone. I ended up going to sleep while one of my kids cried and it sucked.
For some background, we have a family bedroom. One queen bed and one full bed in our room. Sal and I sleep on the queen and Levi and Mesa sleep on the full. Olivia prefers to sleep in her own room, but is always welcome to come into our room if she wants. (As a side, all of our kids have their own beds, they just would rather sleep in our room and that’s fine with us) Last night, Levi and I were snuggling on the couch, reading some books and he asked if I would sleep on his bed with him. At that point Mesa was planning to sleep on the bunk beds with Olivia and I didn’t feel the need to check with her, so I said absolutely.
Fast forward to midnight- Levi and I were tired and started getting ready for bed. Mesa suddenly decided she didn’t want to sleep with Olivia. No worries. She could sleep in the big bed with Sal. No, that wasn’t fair. I told her that tomorrow night, I could sleep with her on the little bed. Nope, still not fair. Olivia offered for me and Levi to sleep on the bottom bunk and they could sleep on the top, but that was not an ok solution either. I suggested a huge sleepover in the living room so I could be with both of them. That was ok. Levi made a bed on the couch for me and a big bed right next to it for him and Mesa. She wanted to sleep next to me. My body can’t handle the floor and I was already limping because of my back so I really needed to be on the couch. Levi wanted to be next to me so we could at least hold hands. Again, that solution was found to be unacceptable.
At this point, it was almost 1, and Levi was about to lose it, he didn’t feel good and wanted to go to sleep. I was about to lose it. I kissed Olivia goodnight- she had decided to sleep on the couch or her room if Mesa decided to be there. Mesa screamed. She threw things and she cried. I hugged her, told her that I would love it if she came into my room on the big bed, that I would love to sleep with her tomorrow night if she chose that, and I said goodnight.
I could hear her off and on for 15 minutes. When Levi was sleep, I got up to check on her and at that point she was asleep on the floor next to Olivia. I went back to the little bed with Levi.
I neer found a solution that worked for everyone despite my best efforts. I wish I could have though. But sometimes, maybe, there just isn’t one.
