For the last week (the last month really, but especially the last week) the triplets have not been napping so much. This is a problem because it's evident at around 6:00 each evening that they really, really need their naps. We can tell who didn't nap on any given day by who is screaming and crying that evening for no apparent reason. It's been tough. Really tough.
So, yesterday we made the decision that the girls needed to be in separate rooms. Really, they were the culprits when it came to nap avoidance. Their beds were right next to each other, so they would just lay there and chat. Then they would get excited and start yelling and screeching to each other. There was just no stopping it.
We decided to move Juli into the spare room, then move KJ's bed where Juli's bed was, and then Elisha's bed where KJ's was. We were attempting to make it a little exciting for all of them. They each got to have their bed in a new location. After we moved everything around things looked promising. They were each getting in and out of their beds and excitedly declaring that "This is Juli's bed!!" or KJ's bed or Elisha's bed. It was really cute.
Then came bedtime. Juli was telling us as soon as she got up the stairs that we had to move her bed back. She didn't want to sleep in a room all alone. The crying and tears that ensued when we left the room were unbearable. We went back in, Gretchen went to console Juli and assure her that everything was alright, I went in to quiet down Elisha and KJ who were boisterously explaining to me that Juli was crying in the other room. After a couple of trips in and out of the room, and several attempts to calm Juli down we realized that we were going to have to revert to the "cry-it-out" method.
Gretchen and I turned off the monitor and sat down to watch some TV. We could still hear Juli crying from the monitor in our bedroom, but because it was further away the volume was bearable. After about 20 long minutes things finally quieted down. Their rooms were quiet, they were all asleep.
This morning KJ woke up early, as usual, and I went up and told him he could come downstairs. The girls remained asleep, which was a very good sign. When the girls did wake up and KJ and I went up to greet them, all three of them almost crashed into each other at the doorway between their two rooms. They were all very excited to see each other. It's really amazing to see the special bond that's forming between them. They really don't like being apart from each other for long periods of time. Of course, you can still tell their siblings because when they are together, they almost always seem to be fighting over something!!
