And I guess that because of the serious topic, no one felt right in commenting on the one point in the story. A point that I purposely included to give you a bit of a humorous image and break up the darkness of the post.
The image of my little brother, peeing at the foot of my bed in the middle of the night.
But I didn't tell that whole story because it wasn't the right post. One topic per post, right? Isn't that the rule? So today I'm going to tell you about my little brother.
The little pipsqueak was born when I was 5 1/2 years old. My only sister was 10 years older than me, and had a room to herself until the pipsqueak was born. (Her other 4 brothers shared the other 2 bedrooms). When he came along, I got kicked out of the baby bed and moved into her room.
She did not want me there.
The little pipsqueak did not stay little long. At a very young age, he outgrew the baby bed. When my sister went off to college, he was moved into my room, which never felt fair to me, because only two of my older brothers were at home any more, and they each had their own rooms.
Why did I have to share with him? Because my brothers didn't want him in their rooms.
Duh. I didn't want him either!
We shared the double bed. He was a very active sleeper. I often awoke with him lying sideways across the bed, pushing me out with his feet, and occasionally I'd struggle to breathe as I woke with him lying crosswise over my stomach. Numerous times, a flailing arm in his sleep would pummel my neck or face. The pipsqueak wasn't even totally night-trained yet - I remember him wetting the bed occasionally.
He was not the cute baby sister I had prayed for.
I was generally quite glad when he got up out of bed to go to the bathroom at night, even though I was a light sleeper and usually woke up when he got out of bed. It was far better than waking to a wet bed. But I did find it confusing that one night when he got up, walked to the end of the bed, stood there in the dark for a minute, then came back and got into bed.
It wasn't until the next morning when I walked to the end of the bed myself, that I figured out why he'd been there.
But it wasn't enough to get him kicked out of my room. I still had to share the bed with him until the next brother went off to college (when I was 13), freeing up one of the other bedrooms.
I wasn't exactly kind to him when he shared my room. I may have even hit him a few times. Like once or twice for each time he kicked me or hit me in his sleep. Or wet the bed. Or crossed the imaginary center line that I drew in the bed. Or touched me with his cold feet.
Maybe even a few other times. Those wonderful memories all tend to blur into one, you know?
Which is why I always swore that my kids would never have to share a bed. Even the boys. They've been stuck sharing a room ever since there was more than one kid living at our address. But they have never had to share a bed except when we travel.
I always thought that giving them each their own beds would make them fight less. But I'm not sure that hypothesis was correct.
7 comments:
Good grief, I can't imagine having that many siblings. My two brothers shared a room but I always had one to myself, being the only girl. To this day I prefer an empty bed (sorry honey!) at least for the sleeping part. ;) I'm sure you do, too....
LOL Yes I do Maggie. I prefer to sleep diagonally across the bed, on my stomach, with a foot hanging over the edge at each side of the corner. (Not that I get to sleep that way often... but I do prefer it.)
And I hate it when he wants to touch as we go to sleep. NO ONE touches me when I sleep! Keep your hands and feet on your own half of the bed!
Oops, sorry, I got carried away.
Which is why we are finally buying a king size bed, VERY soon. I told my mom and she told me, "That's so big you won't be able to find each other."
I told her that if I need him I'm sure I know where he'll be!
Oy vey. I had to share a room almost my entire childhood because I come from a family of four girls.
However, none of them ever peed in my bed.
I DID have a friend who was known to sleepwalk, though. She once got up in the middle of the night, peed in my CLOSET - on top of my shoes, and went back to bed. I found her piss the following day. Bad times.
LOL! Interesting story. No, the best way to minimize fighting is to have separate rooms. And that won't stop it either, only diminish it a bit.
BG, I hope you didn't invite her over often! LOL And I didn't know you had 4 girls... ??
Marvin, no doubt the fighting will always happen. But some of my best memories with my one brother closest in age to me were of our fights... I loved to torture him. Bet you can't guess that, huh? lol
Yeah, I'm with Maggie - I can't sleep with anyone else near me.
I put my kids in the same room with separate beds. They still fight, but sometimes, I hear them in there, telling each other stories and giggling. That's why I put them in the same room - that and the eventual roommate from hell in college.
I had to share a room with my little brother for a brief dark moment in my personal history. Thank the powers that be there was no bed sharing and no peeing.
Does your brother read your blog? Does he know you've outed him in terms of bed wetting? :)
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