The End of an Era

After some six years together, the era of Caleb and Brendan as bunkmates is at an end. At least for now. There have been so many fights and arguments from those two the last several weeks that Jake and I finally couldn't stand it. Caleb is very particular and possessive of his things, while Brendan is a free-for-all sort of guy and likes to tease Caleb until he wigs out and hits him for not stopping. No amount of time outs, talking-to's, family home evenings on kindness and problem-solving or threats (yes, there were quite a few of those, too) seemed to work. SO, Jake decided that it was time to move Riley in with Brendan and give Caleb his own space. He's nine years old now, so I felt like he was probably ready anyways.

A part of me was sad to break of the bopsy twins. Though they fight like dogs, they can also turn around and be the best of friends. All of their interests are the same, they conspire together, and they have enjoyed their bedtime antics (sometimes much to our frustration) ever since Brendan traded in his crib for a toddler bed.


Riley didn't seem to mind the switch, though, and went straight to sleep his first night in with Brendan. His only issue is waking up WAY too early. Lately, we've been weaning him off of the bottle, and he has been fighting it. He's been persistantly getting up at 5am every morning, standing up in his crib, tossing his binky on the floor and demanding his bottle (aka crying....and crying....and crying....) for sometimes HOURS on end. He's got crazy stamina like that. And before you think we're just evil mean parents, let me say that he's not crying non-stop. It's more like crying, then pausing to listen for a few minutes, then crying again, then listening. He's just SUPER stubborn. Hmm. Wonder where he gets it.

So, on that note, poor Brendan has had to evacuate to our room every morning this week as we've let Riley cry things out and get trained to the new program. I keep praying that he'll get the idea SOON!

On the other hand, Caleb is enjoying having his own room to set up all his Lego creations and read in peace. He's totally Hitler whenever Brendan gets in there, so we have to work on that a bit, but I am hoping that this will be a good set up after everyone settles into the idea. Fingers crossed. Otherwise, I guess we're going to just put them all outside and let them go crazy - or ship them to Grandma's house.