Insomniac Sam

For the past month, Sam has had sleep issues. He has normally been a great sleeper and very content to be in his crib, so this has been a change for us. He doesn't want to sleep in his crib, and we started putting him in the Pack 'N Play in the dining room so that he did not disturb Ben. Now, Sam only wants to sleep in the Pack 'N Play and refuses to go into his crib. It is 9:37. Sam is still playing in the Pack 'N Play, drawing, reading his books, claiming he has to pee, and otherwise trying to get our attention. And I feel so bad. Since they were born, the boys have had so little attention focused solely on them, it is always, "Hold on, I have to get your brother," or, "Don't wake up your brother," or, "Mommy's arms are breaking, I can't carry both of you right now," etc., etc., etc. One of the books I read about twins talked about how having twins is difficult for the parents, but also conceptually difficult for infants and toddlers. During infancy and the Machiavellian stages of toddlerhood, a child is the center of his/her universe, and cannot share the attention or space with anyone else. For a twin, from conception, s/he has been sharing space and attention. I wonder if this sleep issue would be solved by spending more time with just Sam -- if that extra time would satisfy this apparent desire to be seen and noticed by his parents, that he has figured out that night-time is the time when he can be independent of his twinhood and the break from the nursery is his first step in that process.

Or maybe this is a typical toddler sleep regression and I am applying my own insecurities about mothering twins to the situation.