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I’ve discussed my family’s co-sleeping habits before on Offbeat Mama (and learned what we were doing is actually called bed-sharing, by the way), and we’ve been sleeping this way since Jasper came home from the hospital. It’s something we have loved, and also something we knew would one day end.
Here’s the catch: we’re planning to move next year and will likely end up in a much smaller space — which we look forward to. My husband and I used to live in a 500-sq.-foot apartment, and then moved into a series of two-bedroom places once we found out we were having Jasper. Cut to our present living situation (which will last until the end of March 2012), in which we share a three-bedroom house with two house mates… so there’s not exactly a second bedroom for Jasper to have.
While we always knew bed-sharing would end, we haven’t really discussed the idea of a second bedroom that’s all Jasper’s. I’m sure at some point (maybe? Families seem to make one bedroom work all the time — you guys remember Alissa’s family and their 730 sq. foot apartment, right?) he’ll want his own space, but for the next few years his space is our space, and vice-versa.
Our current bedroom is pretty big — we measured it with our feet and think it’s 15×15′. However, one mega obstacle to rearranging our room is that we had our king-sized bed, a huge plant, a floor fan, rocking chair, book shelf, and two gigantic dressers in it. So, basically, there wasn’t a ton of space. One of them ONLY had Jasper’s stuff in it, so I moved Jasper’s pants and jeans into my closet, his shirts into my husband’s, and his pajamas and various other items into the dresser that held ours. The rocking chair was non-negotiable (I am so attached!), and we figured we could make everything else work.
We recently had a, uh, situation that many co-sleeping parents often wonder about that sped this whole kid-gets-his-own-bed thing up a little bit. So we started discussing beds with Jasper, and to our surprise he was totally stoked about the idea. I cruised Craigslist for something suitable, and found a sweet little toddler-sized metal framed bed for $25. We picked it up (all while Jasper was squealing “JASPER’S BEEEEEEEEEED!”), painted it yellow (per his request), and now it’s happily living in our lovely little co-sleeping room.
In the future we may explore ways to separate the areas of the room (e.g., his area, our area, etc.), but right now we’re happy as is. He has a photo of us next to his bed and George Harrison above it (both are things he asked for, by the way), and at the time of writing successfully completed a nap in it (we’ve had it in our house for less than twenty-four hours). Here’s hoping there are many more.
My husband and I have our two year old in our room too!! It makes me feel safe knowing my son is right there. It sucks about the privacy issue when it comes to “adult time” but we find ways around it.
Most definitely. 🙂
That is a lovely little yellow bed 🙂
We have our 4 year old in our room. He has his own bed, but often still sleeps in ours. Him being in our room out of necessity, as we’re living in 500 sq ft. Only 1 bedroom.
Our bedroom is very small, room for our bed, his bed and a dresser (and only just!). Part of our living room houses his toys and play area. I don’t ever really feel like we crowd one another, husband and I don’t have a problem with carving out “adult time” because I don’t feel like we need to be restricted to the bedroom for that 😉
I kind of like living this way, not that we have a choice though, but we downsized from a 3 bedroom apartment earlier this year.
I’m so excited to downsize! Our house right now is huge and just filled with sooooo much stuff we don’t need. We’re really stoked to move into a small space and simplify our lives a little bit.
That looks adorable!! We are just now thinking about switching J to a toddler bed from the crib and I want it to be a positive experience. I think she’s gonna love it.
And I had to chuckle at the reason for moving him out – couldn’t think of a better one!
GIRL. Totally. The first time it happened he was actually just sitting there giggling at us.. assuming we were playing or something, I guess? We were like “THE TIME HAS COME.”
He’s been ok with his bed. I wrote this a few weeks ago, and most nights he starts out in his bed and ends up in ours, either because he walks over and gets in it or because he’ll ask one of us to come get him.
The whole little person STAYING in the bed is my biggest concern with transitioning J. Not that we’d mind if she made her way to our bed, but she is currently in a crib and we’ve got little sis in our full size bed with us. (Needless to say the somethin-somethin’ is happening elsewhere at the moment!)
I was going to ask how the boning thing went, with a kid in the bed. And then I kept reading, haha.
I love a small space, and I grew up in a one-bedroom apartment with my Dad, sharing a bedroom for years (in bunk beds! It lead to many forts, guyz). I was 12 when I got my own bedroom for the first time, and not because we couldn’t afford it or for any other reason than… well, there just wasn’t a need for it. To be fair, however, my Dad was single that entire time and/or casually dating. I never woke up with him boning someone in the bed below!
We’ve addressed the boning thing before: http://offbeatmama.com/2011/03/co-sleeping-and-sex-issues
For some reason, more than any other term for sex, “boning” is hilarious to me. I literally just sat here with no one in the room and said “Ha! Boning.” out loud.
I’m not really down with the whole co-sleeping thing myself, but I really like the whole “make the best of what you have” thing. I’ve gotten crap for having my 2 opposite-gender kids share a room, but honestly sometimes you just have to make use of the space you have. We can’t all afford (or want) for everyone to have their own room.
I LOVE his bed and the picture of George. Pure awesomeness!