What is your 2 yr olds crib? Do I have too much junk in it?

So, our twins aren't getting into their cribs easily anymore. some nights its a breeze, but more often than not its pure torture. I've started a new routine where we do bath, potty, extra snack, story book, brush teeth, last potty, prayers bedtime.

its pretty good for parts of it... but at the end they are a cranky mess and I end up putting them in their cribs and zipping them up... then they start in with that they want a book the other has... UGH!

so in our cribs, they have their 1 or 2 lovies, a lightweight quilt, a small pillow, their glow animal, another stuffed animal or doll and then 2 or 3 small books that I don't mind if they get ruined.

the books are what they fight over. my ds loves this cheesy $1 book that's got bunnies. then my dd wants it. so we see if there's one to trade for it... but she doesn't want to give up the Curious George book and on it goes. Last night I snuck in a new cat book for her, and it calmed her but then tonight my ds saw it and wanted it.

I've created monsters, haven't I?!!

I thought it was a nice idea to have books in their crib that they could entertain themselves a little at night and then in the morning if they woke early. The thing is, that I would love to have them in bed by 7:30p or the latest 8p. Seems that with all the steps to get to bed and everything its closer to 8:15p or 8:30p. and then they are fussing for over 10-15 min. and chattering for another bit. I think they are calming down and quieting close to 9p.

My topic is all over the board, b/c I also wonder if I need to cancel their afternoon nap.. normally they are napping 1p to 3p. And they've always been great nappers and pretty much have been on the high part of the amount of sleep they've gotten compared to averages for their age.

 

Mine sleep with so much stuff!

They each have 3-4 stuffed animals, plus their blankies, then babies, a sippy of water, covers, and something I'm forgetting. It's past ridiculous.
Mine used to sleep with books. But then DS tore one up one night and that was the end of that. They did better than I thought they would about it, but I just explained that no more books would be in bed. We read two stories at night and I let them each pick out one. We climb in one of the beds and read both stories. Then they tell the books "night-night" and that's that.

Good luck! It's so frustrating when they take something nice and fight over it!

 

Mine have a small pillow, a blanket, their sleep sack (they don't wear them anymore but suck on them) and a pillow pet... that's already too much because the two times when one threw up or the other took the diaper off and peed everywhere it was a real pain to have to clean everything.

For night time I'm in the same boat than you are, except mine nap at noon but up to 3 hours. And bedtime is awful most nights and rarely before 8pm anymore. But there's no way we could survive without nap.

 

well at least we're in good company with at least 2 other families with loads of stuff in the cribs! I know what you mean about having to wash it all when it gets dirty... we're potty training so there are many mornings/naps that I have to change sheets... I guess that would be reason enough for me to pare down the stuff! let alone the fighting... ugh!

 

Add me to that list!!!! I have 3 in cribs and just tonight they all have 2 small blankets, a race car, and a book. dd also has a soccer ball (don't ask), her twin brother has an etch-e-eketch, and the youngest has an old cell phone that doesn't work.

It never ends... I change them on the floor in the nursery and before they get in their crib they pick one thing that they can take into bed. We have a little pile of stuff. Those are the last things I mentioned, the other things are always in their cribs.

 

I like the idea of the pile of stuff to choose from... do you just rotate who gets to choose first?

 

I don't usually, they just kind of go at it :laughing: But if there is something that I know will cause a fight I take it out of the room completely. Or I find something else that the other REALLY wants and grab it from the playroom.

 

My DS sleeps with his two stuffed snuggle dogs, his Scout and Dora. He has two blankets, a pillow pet and a small pillow in his crib. My DD sleeps with three blankets, two pillows, several stuffed animals. I am amazed that she still manages to fit in her bed.

 

Mine have two pillows, 3-4 stuffed animals, a water sippy, 8 pacifiers, and one rotating item like a book, towel (?), toy, etc. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one with tons of stuff in their cribs!

 

A&R have in their toddler beds each:

2-4 blankets
a LARGE pillow
a small pillow
usually 5-6 books of varying size
2 matchbox cars
R has one motorcycle
their "fishie" (monster stuffed plush from Toys R Us, wish I could find more, these two need to be bathed!
A has two 3 inch princesses, I believe Belle and Aurora, could be Cinderella though
R has Batman, Spiderman, AND the Green Lantern figures
a sippie of water


Worthy of note: it's all hard stuff but the pillows and the fishies! Books, action figures, cars, and cups!

Oh and their ghost lights! LED lights from Ikea.

 

I must be the mean mommy. My kids had a blanket and their little travel pillow. The motto here is "beds are for sleeping".

 

Ha, this is so funny because I was considering posting a thread asking the same question! :lol: It has gotten a little out of control. Each of my guys has a pillow, a blanket, 2 stuffed animals, at least one book, and they usually end up grabbing a teddy bear and/or Twilight Turtle off the nightstand some time during the night. :faint: I'm surprised there's any room to lay in there!

My guys have been cutting up rough at bedtime lately, especially Nate, so we've been offering more "stuff" to distract him. It's obviously not working. <_<

 

well, I love hearing that I'm not alone. though I think I do want to pare it down... especially during this potty training phase and stuff getting wet. I think I have to ditch one of the Curious George books from last night...

I also kind of like the mentality of "beds are for sleeping"... so I'll be curious myself how the kids take to no more books in bed. I think I will try to have a bucket of stuff where they can choose 1 item, I like that idea.

thanks for all the responses!! I am not alone! love that!

 

No books in bed wouldn't work for me. I still fall asleep every night with a book in my bed. There's no better place to read!

 

yeah well... that part is mainly so we don't keep ruining books with wet beds... hopefully in a month we can bring them back. you're right reading is great!

 

After Nate turned Cat in the Hat to confetti, I instituted a "board book only" rule for the cribs. You could also give them cloth books or bath books which would be easier to clean in case of accidents!

 

I do have some cloth books I was going to get rid of... I might put those in there. good idea, and the bath books too... hmmm.... thanks!

 

I just wanted to add that we were having a dickens of a time getting them to get in their cribs. They love story time so we started having them each put two books on the rocker that they wanted us to read and then they get in their cribs and we read those to them. It helps with them fighting getting in their cribs and they don't take books in because then I wouldn't be able to read them. We do have quite a bit of stuff in their beds, but I don't allow anything that aren't "bed" things that have been in there for a while. They each have a blanket and a pillow, they both have a stuffed monkey and a stuffed Clifford dog, and a cloth book!

 

Then I'm mean too lol. No way I'm putting toys or books in their crib. Plus to be honest it's too dark in their room even in the morning to be able to see much (I love our blinds!).

 

mine used to take the randomest things to bed, but now it's just blanket, pillow, one stuffed animal, and each has a copy of "goodnight moon" in their beds. after they fall asleep, i put more books on the floor by their beds (their beds are gated by a superyard) so they can read them in the morning. when they were in cribs, i used to do that, too. i'd wait till they fall asleep, then put a small toy, or some books in their with them so they'd stay occupied for about a half house after waking up in the morning!

 

I am definintely a big meanie - my kids still sleep at night in sleepsacks (and they are still in cribs at 2yrs 7months), and they are only allowed their blankie in their crib! I used to put a toy each at night once they had fallen asleep for them to play with in the morning but it wasn't really keeping them busy, so I stopped. Plus, I am way to concerned about chocking issues to let them take nearly anything in their crib!! Maybe this will change once I move them into real beds...

 

My kids have pillow, blanket, and snugglie. I agree bed are for sleeping. I think the toys just encourage playing when they should be sleeping.

 

I wondered about that as well but it really hasn't changed. Aside from occasionally putting a book under their pillow just to get away with something, they don't seem to be terribly interested. They've asked to take a new toy to bed and I've told them that the toy should go on the dresser where they can find it first thing in the morning rather than in the bed where it might get lost or poke them if they roll onto it. So far, so good.

 

Mine have way too much stuff too. Every night they bring more stuff up. That's how I bribe them to go to bed. I need to start taking stuff down in the morning when they aren't looking.

 

thanks everyone! I found the responses enlightening! I'm still trying to figure it all out... what I'm letting the kids "get away" with and what I really want them to do... I saw a fair amount of responses where cribs/beds are for sleeping... and I am realizing that I do tend to lean towards that way, but then I get sucked into the whole part of them whining for something so I let them have it... that's just a slippery slope and now (especially dd) our kids are balking a bit at bedtime. so it is making me step back and see if we can be the boss a bit more and not give in to their every whim.

last night I put their little pillow, blanket, 1 main lovey each and then the cloth book in there. for the most part they were good, mostly its out of sight out of mind... and if its not in the room then they aren't really whining for it. thanks for all your input. I love to see how life is going in other households as well!

 

I get the idea of "beds are for sleeping" but mine sleep great in their cribs full of stuff ardon: I leave the room and they are awake for about 15 minutes and then put themselves to sleep. They wake up 11-12 hours later and are happy as clams and play for another 20 minutes or so. I'm also with Bex, I often fall asleep with a book by my side.