He has moved! – Mummascribbles

Zach spent last night in his own room.

Not a big deal you may think, he’s 2, surely he spends every night in his own room? The answer to that is no – he has been a part of our room since the day he was born.

When we first had Zach, we lived in a rather small one bedroom flat. We were originally going to move into a 2 bed when our contract ran out back in April 2013 when he was 7 months old – this was the perfect time as we knew he’d be in our room until 6 months anyway.

The time came around and we looked around at the market and it was so expensive to rent a 2 bed that we decided to stay put and try and spend another year saving money. We knew at the time that we couldn’t afford to buy a house but we’d have been in a much better position a year down the line. So we made do with what we had and stayed in that flat until April this year when we had saved enough money to use the government scheme and buy a house.

We moved into our house in April and I already knew that Zach would be in our room for a while as I didn’t want to shove him into an unfamiliar room in an unfamiliar house and we also needed to decorate it for him.

The decorating took ages! If you haven’t seen my previous post, you can see exactly what my other half did here, and it was done in between work, parenting and trying to have a life! His room was completed by his second birthday in September but still we didn’t move him in there straight away! As I was shortly off to San Francisco for 10 days, I thought it only fair on the other half that Zach remained where he was, where he happily slept and where only a couple of steps were needed to reach him if he woke in the night. I returned from San Fran and then I was starting a new job and another weekend went by where we didn’t move his cot.

So, this weekend was the weekend. We were home on Sunday and there were no more excuses. His cot needed breaking down to fit through the doorframes so the other half was tasked with that while I played with Zach in his room. He knows it’s his room and has been referring to it that way for a while so I hoped it would be a smooth transition after spending all of his little life so far sleeping within reach of us.

Slightly earlier than usual, at about 11.30am, he had his first nap in his room. He cried a tiny bit when we left him but settled within seconds and he slept for 2.5 hours. When he woke up he was so happy that he’d gone to sleep with Raa Raa and so I felt positive about the coming evening when he’d spend the whole night (hopefully) in there!

Cue several hours later and a sleepy little boy, it was time. We did all the usual (except for a bath) and even Nannie was there for bedtime story which took place in our room. We got him in his sleeping bag and said right, shall we go in with Raa Raa and he was happy. Again, a few unusual tears but he’d stopped before we even got downstairs, eventually fell asleep and was happy in there as far as we could see. At 10pm we went up there to bed and he was fast asleep. I was prepared to be woken in the night although I was a bit worried that if he did wake, we wouldn’t hear him even though he is directly next door to us.

As far as I know, he didn’t wake up. He was still fast asleep when my alarm went off this morning. Still fast asleep when I got out of the shower. Still fast asleep when I’d finished with the hairdryer. He was fast asleep until 5 minutes before we had to leave the house and he went to Nannie’s in his pj’s!

The first night in his own room was a success. I missed falling asleep listening to him breathing. I missed the sound of him nuff nuffing in the night. I missed him waking up this morning, looking over at us with a big smiley face and having some morning cuddles. I missed the presence of him in our room. It was weird knowing that he was still so close but felt so far away. But it was a success and I got a complete night sleep. And this morning, when he was really happy again that he’d slept alongside Raa Raa, I know it was all worth it and that he’s 2 and needs his own space. And I just want to squidge him so much when he rests his head on his hands imitating sleep and says go sleep with Raa Raa.