The past week, I have been sleep-training Luke (2.5 years old) to say goodnight to me while he is still awake so that I can leave the room and he can sleep on his own. Luke shares the bedroom with his older brother Matthew (4.5 years old) and they both go to bed at the same time. After story time, it's lights-off and mummy stays in the room for 5 minutes before the boys have to say goodnight to mummy.
As expected, there has been much drama from the little 2-year-old when I leave the room. On some nights, Luke would negotiate with me to stay longer ("Mummy, I don't want 5 minutes. I want so many minutes") and ask me why he has to say goodnight ("Mummy, I don't want to say goodnight. Why I need to sleep by myself?") just to stall time and make me stay longer in his room. On other nights, when it was time for me to leave the room, Luke would cry and scream and make a big fiasco.
But quite unexpectedly, the whole sleep-training process has brought about a closer bond between the 2 brothers. On 1 occasion, after I left the room with Luke still crying, Luke turned to his brother and said between his sobs "Matt Matt, you know why I cry? Because Mummy don't want to pat pat me to sleep anymore". And you know what Matt said to his little brother? He said "It's ok, I am here. Don't cry, just close your eyes and sleep". I thought it was really sweet of Matt and I felt Matt has matured a little as a big brother in the process.
:: While the sleeping training happens at night, these 2 photos were taken during their afternoon naps hence they were not in their pajamas. ::
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