The Co-sleeping Battle.

The co-sleeping debate is quite popular nowadays. Some parents are adamant it's the worst thing for the child, the marriage and the mattress. Others swear it fosters security, and parents get more sleep avoiding bedtime dramas. This post isn't about any of that. This is about the co-sleeping battle of maintaining and holding ground against a growing toddler. We're on our second bed buddy and this one is proving to be quite the strategist in gaining territory. She maneuvers in sweetly with a request to cuddle, then hangs onto her dominance with careful placement of knees, elbows and feet. Even her head is assigned battering ram duties against our spines. She has to go.
Our son managed to hang in there until about 5 or 6 then decided his bed was far superior since his mattress hadn't ever been peed on. When he was about 8 we bought a new home and he started his campaign to invade our brand new king size bed. We'd had a full size previously which meant my husband spent more time on the couch than the dog. He made it clear if we were having another kid, he was getting a permanent space in a king size bed. Since we didn't just want to tell our son he couldn't stay with us and exile him to the opposite end of the hallway we worked out a compromise. He could come into our room anytime, with his blanket and pillow and sleep on the floor. He actually did this for a couple of nights, then I stopped dusting for spiders. Solved.
Now back to the girl. Unlike her brother, who willingly slept on the floor to spare himself the embarrassment of sleeping with his parents, Ky is so not ready to go there. But she really needs to go so I can wake up just one morning without a new bruise or bloody lip. Alex and I really have no problem with sleeping like farm animals, and I wouldn't trade the hours of bonding, cuddling warm baby bodies and security our children have felt snuggling with us in our bed, but I'm thinking it might be time to stop dusting the ceiling webs too.