When I started working with this family last year, I expressed my concerns about working with a WAHD. DB assured me he would hide in his office and stay out of the way. He does fairly well with that, although he tends to go out of the house for meetings every morning, and every time he leaves the house (or comes back home) he walks right through the play area and kitchen (due to layout of house, not his fault), which does disrupt things a little. But mostly, he does try to stay out of the way.
They have twins who are 19 months old. They've always taken a great afternoon nap, but a few weeks ago they started just "playing" with each other (they share a room), and keeping each other awake during nap time, so MB set up a pack n play in MB/DB bedroom, which has blackout curtains, fans, and a white noise machine, just like the kids room. So, every day for the last few weeks I've set them down for nap, after a busy, active morning, with full bellies from lunch, and after our long calm down it's nap time routine. About a third of the time they go to sleep right away. The other 2/3, they scream and "play" and keep each other awake. I give them 15-20 mins, but if they don't settle I go in and put one in the pack n play.
So, every day, DB goes to use the bathroom during nap time. They usually nap from 1:30/2 until about 4pm. DB always goes to the bathroom right around 3. The house has two bathrooms, which are both right next to the master bedroom. So, anyway, as you might've guessed, even with being SO SO SO tired, and even with the fans and white noise on, whichever twin is in the pack n play instantly wakes up when DB uses the bathroom, and won't go back to sleep. It's very frustrating. Whichever twin is in his crib will continue to sleep until 4 every time, but the twin in the pack n play often falls asleep later and then gets woken up first. So, the twin in the crib will get a solid 2 hours of sleep, while the other twin gets an hour or less. Whichever twin is in the pack n play and wakes up first, cries and cries and cries until I go get him. i have a lot of chores I'm supposed to do, and I can't do any of them with a 19 month old around, that's what nap time is for.
I always use the bathroom right when I put them down (before they've fallen asleep), and then wait to use it again until they wake up. I don't think I could possibly forbid DB from using the bathroom at all during nap time; I think he does wait to use it until DURING nap time so he doesn't disrupt us. I think his logic might be that he waits until they're "in the middle of nap" thinking they are less likely to wake up, but clearly that's not the case. They've been telling me lately they're "disappointed" with how naps are going (particularly stating they're disappointed the twins have to be separated at all, but also upset at how one always has a short nap). I feel weird saying "well the nap was short for this twin because DB used the bathroom and woke him up." I feel weird to be put in the position of having to tell DB when he can and cannot use the bathroom. I don't think there is a good solution.
