Sleep Tight

It's a phrase I've heard all my life, "sleep tight."  But what does it really mean, wrapped up in blankets snugly?   For me I suppose, it has a different meaning that's tied entirely to my persnicketyness with bedding.

I'm one of those, "princess and the pea" types when it comes to the bed.   I like it clean, soft and stretched "tight" over the mattress.   There is something that happens with a lot of bedding these days.   It must be related to the thicker and thicker mattresses are now sold now.   The taller the mattress, the taller the side of the fitted sheet has to be to make it to the bottom to tuck under and hold the sheet in place.  

We have a decently tall mattress, but it's not as tall as some and manufacturers are making sheets so they fit all mattresses.   Putting a clean fitted sheet on the bed, making sure it's tucked under tightly so you can, "bounce a dime off it" works for the first night.   After that creep starts to happen as the sides of the sheet come upwards a bit at a time, leaving wrinkles bunched up on the top of the mattress.

We have a thing we do to sheets to sew in the four corners so that they stay tight across the width and length of the mattress as well as preventing the sheet from being pulled upwards.   It's an easy stitch to do, even with my meager sewing skills.   With the stitch in place, I can sleep tight every night.

When we got my son's new sheets to go on the full mattress his sister had been sleeping on in the bottom bunk recently, I noticed the fitted sheet was almost twice as deep as the mattress.   I told my son to let me know if the sheet was bunching up and we'd fix it for him.

I noticed my son had gone back to sleeping on the top bunk lately and when asked, he said it was because the sheet he was lying on was messy.   Boys.  Children.   If he'd only told me...  No matter, today my husband and I sewed his sheet so tight he'll almost float over the mattress pad.   I had him do some jumping tests to confirm we'd gotten it tight enough.    Next time, I told him, just tell me when something is bothering you.   I'm here to help.  

The Big Boy Tiny Girl Top Sheet Introduction:  My children are eight and nine and up until the last month or so, neither has slept with a top sheet.    We've tried it on occasion, but it wasn't really worth it.   After two or even one day the sheet was bunched down at the bottom of the bed.   They were fine with just a comforter or even their favorite blanket or quilt.  I told them they've grown up now and they can sleep with their bed like adults do.   My mother-in-law calls it sleeping in an envelope.   They love to do things their grandparents tell them about and so far, the bunching has been less than I expected.   They both seem to like the new setup of their beds too.