As I regale you with recent Images that Captivated me at THE BRASS ARMADILLO WEST for your Eye Candy Delight during Today's Post, we're actually going to Talk about something that you're all probably quite familiar with... how Weird Kids can be! And some of the Curious and Kooky Arrangements they can come up with that don't make a lot of sense once you're an Adult??!!! *LOL*
Since I've been Parenting two Generations of Kids and raising Little Ones for well over 30 consecutive Years now, you'd think that nothing they do, say or come up with would Surprise me anymore wouldn't you? Yet I never cease to be Amazed at the very Curious Arrangements indeed that they often make between themselves. Arrangements that make absolutely no sense to me and make me feel like I just fell down the Rabbit Hole, but since it makes them Content I just roll with it now. You do learn to choose your Battles wisely when it comes to Kids if you've become a Wise Adult and want to preserve your own Sanity you see! *Smiles*
The Mind of a Child is like opening rows of closed doors and peeking behind them into a Surreal World... you never quite know what you might find and it probably is not going to look or feel Normal to you. It will probably stretch your Comfort Zone if you're co-existing with them... it is their Wonderland and it totally Works for them because they can Embrace and Concoct their own Version of what goes and there's probably few, if any, Rules that accompany that Enchanting World.
So, with the best of Intentions you might remember that our Adult Goal around Bohemian Valhalla was FINALLY to get Princess T sleeping by herself in a Room, her very own Room, and I didn't even care which Room of the House it would be actually, so long as we Transitioned her into it! *LOL* Her Brother is entering the World Of Teen shortly and certainly needed his own room and Privacy from the Princess and her Posse of Five to Seven Year Olds. After all, we didn't need his Teen Angst and Mood Swings Intensified further! Because when Prince R is unhappy, he Shares it, it's his Special Gift to ensure we're all equally unhappy Together and in total Unity! *LOL*
And three in our Bed was starting to get old, after a Shared Room experience of Siblings had escalated into Banquishment and Tears. Especially since she's still in Pull-Ups and so there was that occassional 'accident'... usually on my side of the Bed! *Le Sigh* And she's a very aggressive sleeper... so she'd be splayed out like a Starfish in the middle, with Grandpa and I practically falling out of bed on each of our respective sides! At our Season of Life that could mean a risk of a broken hip if you fall out of bed... and though I'd always managed to hang on and hold my ground near the precipice of Bed Edge and Floor... Grandpa hadn't been so lucky and took a few falls onto the floor when a little foot had firmly pressed him over the edge! *LOL*
And having her fall asleep in the Livingroom Chairs had also worn thin... not only due to potential 'accidents' on those pieces of Furniture as well... but she's getting longer and larger so carrying a lanky sleeping Child from that room into a Bedroom was also becoming more of a Challenge for this pair of Seniors! Because this Princess sleeps like the Dead once she finally goes down so she's Dead Weight and can't be roused enough to sleep-walk into another room!
Yes, nobody wanted The Princess sleeping with them, on them or in their rooms and the Communal rooms of the House anymore... it was Time to Transition her into her own Sleeping Quarters. So you might remember the recent Great Conversion of the Library Room into Princess T's own Special Bedroom slash Library Room since that is the Room she had chosen as The One she would prefer.
The Guest Bedroom would have been the Logical Choice of coarse, but nobody wants to sleep back there. Well, except for me or my Mad Sista Kathie that Spirit apparently leaves alone to slumber uneventfully and in Peace back there, as the Stories go for those who are convinced it's the Haunted section of this Ole House...
We wanted a Smooth Voluntary Transition and tried to make the Process as Fun and Exciting as we possibly could without having to Sell and Move, which was entirely out of the question! *LOL* She Loves Books and sitting and playing in the Library Room during the Day, it seemed the Favorite Space for she and her Friends to Hang Out. Both doors leading in and out of it are always kept open, which was important to her, and I could keep a watchful Eye from my Computer Room next to it as I Blogged... PERFECT Arrangement I niavely thought!
But though she absolutely ADORED the finished Project of her very own room and played or hung out there Contentedly during the Day, at Night it was another matter. It just wasn't working out... and we'd find her everywhere else that she'd migrated to during the Night. And yet, now she had Claimed the Room as her very own Bedroom and she wasn't going to give it up either, she's very Territorial like that.
You see, even though he was Delighted to get a room all to himself finally, Prince R was a wee bit jealous of the fact that his Little Sister had gotten the "New" Room! Even though we'd tried to revamp their once Shared Bedroom into his own Special Little Man Cave. Due to space limitations some of her things had to remain in that room in Toy Storage Containers and Shelves and so it still felt a bit Shared to him. But that wasn't really what was bothering him... he LIKED her New Bedroom better as well... and he made it perfectly clear that they could Switch if she wouldn't sleep there!? He wouldn't change a thing about it... and she could just swap Beds with him at Night.
You see, it had already begun... this Very Curious Arrangement between them... since she would Migrate out of her Bedroom at Night into other rooms of the House to sleep and we'd find him sound alseep in her Bed in the New Bedroom after she'd Vacated and Abandoned it!!!
And yet neither of them wanted to Swap Rooms entirely... she still considered the New Room HER Bedroom and during the Day it was her Private Domain that she only relinquished to him after Sunset. And the once Shared Bedroom was still considered HIS Bedroom and Private Domain during the Day that she had to ask Permission to Enter... but which, after Sunset, she could sleep in and watch the TV until she drifted off to sleep... and the Miracle was, she STAYED ASLEEP THERE without constant Migration!
And the Dual Miracle was... The Young Price, he who requires Sleep Meds to get to sleep at all so that he won't stay up for days on end on a Manic Bipolar High... actually WANTS to go to sleep in the New Room! So we no longer meet with Bedtime Resistance from him and he Voluntarily Retires EARLY and STAYS ASLEEP ALL NIGHT for the first time in Twelve and a Half Years without popping up every few Hours like a Human Jack-In-The-Box that won't stay in the box during the Hours when the rest of the Household needs to slumber!!! And Trust me, him being UP when the rest of the Household slumbers is Risky Business for Mischief beyond your Wildest Nightmares!
And so the Quirky Curious Kooky Arrangement exists between them. Because Kids can be Weird... and I don't even try to figure it out or make Sense of it anymore. The fact that The Man and I can FINALLY get some uninterrupted sleep for the first time in Decades {because The Son is ADHD and Bipolar too so this isn't our first Rodeo with Sleepless Parenting}... well, it is Pure Bliss, I almost have to pinch myself so that I don't think I'm Dreaming it is actually happening??!!! So this Gramma doesn't really care WHICH Room of this Ole' House any of them STAYS ASLEEP in... so long as now each has their OWN space to Retire to and slumber for a decent amount of Hours that allows ME to get some sleep and a Respite for those Hours I'm awake and have some Solitary Time!
In fact, Today is the first day of Spring Break and it's almost 11:00 AM and the Young Prince is still asleep... this is probably the longest he's Voluntarily slept in his entire Life! He woke up only long enough to eat Breakfast and then ASK if he could go back to sleep in her room?!? And The Princess, well, she STAYED ASLEEP all Night in his room too, waking at a relatively decent hour after Grandpa was already up... so I could SLEEP IN!!! See... Dreams really DO come True!
Blessings from the Arizona Desert... Dawn... The Bohemian