carang
Registered User
i HATE the idea of a quiet house and blackout curtains... HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE IT! (sorry... don't think i can accurately portray how much i REALLY HATE those things! LOL)
my mother used to put me in a bassinet and place the bassinet beside her piano and she would play for hours while i slept. what did it do? it taught me to sleep through pretty much anything as a child. she could vacuum, clean, have visitors, take me out and about in the pram etc all without worrying that it wasn't quiet and dark!
i did the same with my son... well, not the piano as i couldn't play more than "mary had a little lamb"...but when my son was a baby, we had a lot of dogs living with us. the dogs would be directly outside his bedroom at all hours of hte day and night. it turned out that my son learned to sleep through anything.
my daughter, however, was slightly different. we moved to a different house and the dogs were now 2 floors down from her bedroom. for the longest time, it meant that she woke at the slightest sound. BUT eventually, she, too, learned how to sleep through anything.
last year, a friend and her family came over to spend christmas eve night with us. my kids slept in my bed, while her kids slept in my kids' beds. she and i had to organise and wrap presents for 4 kids. once my kids were asleep, which took about 20 minutes, i turned the light on in my room, broke out the bottle of Bailey's, and she and i wrapped all of the presents (while listening to 80s tunesand enjoying shots of bailey's!)... my kids didn't move a muscle. they slept through it all!
my mother used to put me in a bassinet and place the bassinet beside her piano and she would play for hours while i slept. what did it do? it taught me to sleep through pretty much anything as a child. she could vacuum, clean, have visitors, take me out and about in the pram etc all without worrying that it wasn't quiet and dark!
i did the same with my son... well, not the piano as i couldn't play more than "mary had a little lamb"...but when my son was a baby, we had a lot of dogs living with us. the dogs would be directly outside his bedroom at all hours of hte day and night. it turned out that my son learned to sleep through anything.
my daughter, however, was slightly different. we moved to a different house and the dogs were now 2 floors down from her bedroom. for the longest time, it meant that she woke at the slightest sound. BUT eventually, she, too, learned how to sleep through anything.
last year, a friend and her family came over to spend christmas eve night with us. my kids slept in my bed, while her kids slept in my kids' beds. she and i had to organise and wrap presents for 4 kids. once my kids were asleep, which took about 20 minutes, i turned the light on in my room, broke out the bottle of Bailey's, and she and i wrapped all of the presents (while listening to 80s tunesand enjoying shots of bailey's!)... my kids didn't move a muscle. they slept through it all!
I like routines but I do adjust them to suit my needs.