Bug Boy Makes Life More Fun

Bug Boy has some funky irrational fears. (that doesn't sound nice)

They are not irrational to him. They are to a bunch of experts who write that on pieces of paper to get services, but I digress...

Bug Boy can be afraid of things that we have never thought about. (There, is that better?)

In the beginning, we co-slept with both Bug Boy and Bugaboo. When they each turned two we moved them to the crib and then a bed when they were ready (well, actually, Bugaboo pretty much never slept in a crib since he climbed out at fifteen months and we were still co-sleeping). No, co-sleeping did NOT ruin our sex life. It did NOT make our children clingy. It did NOT cause SIDS, as the AAP would like you to believe (because, gosh forbid you sleep with your children!). It also did not cause their autism. I was just a lazy mama who was not about to walk down the hall to nurse my babies in the middle of the night. Somtimes Darling slept in the spare room if it was a particularly rough night. For the most part, our children have been THRILLED to sleep in their own beds since the age of two, and love their rooms.

The past few weeks with Bug Boy have been hairy, at best. He sneaks down to the Living Room while we are in the family room watching television or working in the kitchen. He climbs behind the couch or under the Dining Room table and falls asleep there, barricaded in by the couch cushions and pillows. When we've found him down there (after performing the nightly bed checks and realizing he has been missing for a few minutes) we have sent him right back to bed, only to find him asleep in our bed, on his floor, in Bugaboo's room, in the hallway and once asleep on his bathroom floor. He has not fallen asleep in his bed in three weeks.

A few years back we received (for free) a single-bed-sized car bed for Bug Boy. He was three and growing out of the toddler bed. Bugaboo was moved into the toddler-sized car bed that my crazy brother bought him on eBay. They seemed to enjoy the beds, although they NEVER slept (it was over a year before we found out about the night terrors and seizures). The toddler bed was uncomfortable and Bugaboo hated it. When we moved it went into the yearly borough yard sale. Bug Boy kept his bed. The only problem is that the bed (molded plastic) had vent holes in it. And our house is chock full of spiders and creepy crawlies this time of year, due to the swamp-like conditions outside. So, guess where they sometimes end up? Yup, in the vent holes of the molded plastic of his car bed. We have to vacuum it out about once a month, which requires taking the entire bed apart. How did we find out about this, you ask? Well, not long after we received the car bed (which was stored on my friend's porch) we noticed Bug Boy was waking up COVERED in bites from an unknown insect or spider. He would develop these severe reactions to them and a few times had cellulitis. He has not had bites in over a year because we have been diligent about cleaning out the bed. But a few weeks ago, Bug Boy had a nasty dream. And now he will not go to bed.

We have toyed with the idea of getting rid of the bed for some time. I have wanted to get a bunk bed or captain's style bed for sometime. I'd really like to get a bunkbed with a trundle under it so that when we have the cousins or other guests over, Bugaboo can sleep on the bottom bunk of Bug Boy's room and the guests can use Bugaboo's bed, which was the original thought behind buying him that frickin' expensive mattress. Right now Darling's Sister and her husband sleep on that gosh-awful futon in the basement, which is fine, but it is FAH-REE-ZING cold down there and sleeping on that futon is like sleeping on 2X4s. Literally. The futon is made of 2X4s.

Where was I again?

Oh yeah.

So, he won't sleep on his bed. This weekend we have decided to look for a replacement bed. In the meantime we are going to take the bed out of his room and put the mattress on the floor. I now have three days to convince my husband that we need to go to IKEA to look for the bunk beds, since it will be more cost effective (and savvy-er, if that is a word) and they will look nice. He hates IKEA, in case you are wondering. Hates it with a passion, and we STILL have the white-foil-MDF bed that he has had since a preteen, and he will not allow me to get rid of it, no matter how shabby the bed is! ACK!

Do not even get me started on the bathroom issues at school...