Bedtime problems again (age 4)

[at-home]

Things have been smooth sailing at bedtime with our twins the past couple of years. Now, all of the sudden, every night for a week, they have been rediculous. I tuck them in with our usual routine then, a few minutes later I hear them starting to goof around. They start laughing (loud), take all of their clothes off and act crazy (making each other laugh, kicking the bed and wall, getting out of bed, etc.). We don't have an extra bedroom for separating them so they share a room. They are up and running around for an hour (at least) after "bedtime." They don't take naps and bedtime is around 8:30, so they should be tired. I relish my hour or two at night after they finally go to sleep, so this is distressing. I'm with them all.day.long from the moment they wake up til bedtime. Probably no one has any magical suggestions (I think I"ve already seen them all on this forum!), but if you've had a "relapse" like this, did you have any success at restoring a peaceful bedtime?

[Shuli]

I know how frustrating that can be. Happens over here sometimes too. You might want to make bed time a little earlier, could it be that they are overtired? The only time mine do that is if we have missed the window and put them to bed too late, then they go crazy and play off each other for hours!! It's rediculous. Try putting them to bed 15 minutes or half an hour earlier, make routine a tad longer while they are in bed and see what happens.

Good luck!

[hergrace]

All of my kids have gone through a phase like this at about 3.5. A sillier bedtime routine to get the giggles out before I tucked them in and a later bedtime has been the solution for us.

HTH