Monday, April 03, 2006

co-sleeping

A few nights ago when Taufik was still away, the kids squabbled over who gets to sleep 'in the middle', which actually means who gets to sleep beside me. We had a system, everybody took turns. That night it was Ihsan's turn, and I had to explain to Anis why it wasnt her turn. She didnt understand what 'turn' means, so the boys and I were trying to explain it to her.
When everyone had settled down and accepted the arrangement, I laid on my side of the bed listening to the kids' breathing (or snoring as in Ilham's case) and wondered what it would be like with 4 kids instead of 3.
I know we're not the only parents who co-sleep with their kids, but I often wonder how other parents succeeded in kicking their kids out of their bedroom. Do they wait till they've grown body hair? (the kids, not the parents).
I mean, I love my kids.. but I think I've tried almost everything to get them to sleep in their own rooms, but to no avail.
Ihsan slept with the maid after I weaned him off, but then when my maid went home for good, he ended up sleeping in our bedroom again. The same thing happened with Anis.
I got them to sleep in their own room in this house (in S@udi) for a while, but then Anis started waking up in the middle of the night to crawl into our bed. Then the 'middle of the night' got earlier and earlier, till it became 'at bedtime'.
I've tried locking the door and yelling "Go back to bed!", but then she'd be so persistent, we'd give up in the end and let her in just so that we could get some sleep. So Anis ended up sleeping with us.
Then Ilham started getting 'nightmares' .. and Ihsan didnt want to sleep alone, so now they're sleeping on comforters on the carpet beside our bed.

I know my pregnancy is damning evidence that having children in the domestic goddess' budoir is not affecting her sex life, but i feel that it actually does.
I cannot 'get it on' when there are kids sleeping and snoring less than 5 feet of me. It just creeps me out. I know that they're asleep, but I believe that their souls' eyes are awake and can see. What if I'm psychologically damaging them with my activities (which can get a bit noisy at times)? What if they wake up and saw? That would be horrible!
So how did I get pregnant? Well, usually we end up sneaking out of the bedroom in the middle of the night, or doing it at other times (fringe benefits of being a housewife *wink*)

I'm trying to get the kids ready for not sleeping with me. I tell them that when the baby is born, they're gonna have to go back to sleeping in their own room. Coz the baby is going to have to sleep with me and there will be no room for them.
I hope it'll work.

No comments:

Post a Comment