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Approximately two weeks ago we had three nights in a row of the thermostat going to crazy temps in the twin’s room. The thermostat for the entire upstairs is in their bedroom above their light switch. Justin was out of town one night and I checked the baby monitor in my room and noticed the temp said 63 degrees! I thought, that can’t be right, as I have it set on a permanent “hold” mode for their room at 72 degrees. I went upstairs and it was frigid. The air was blasting at 63 degrees! The boy’s cheeks and ears were so cold, yet they were sleeping right through it. I changed the temp and put the “hold” back in place. I was not exactly sure why it changed temps. I thought perhaps I accidentally turned off the “hold” mode and it reverted to an old program with this oddly low temp. It could be possible, since people lived in this home before us for a year and could have set it to a low temp during the winter when they were traveling perhaps. That’s all I could think of for an explanation at the moment.

The next night, with Justin still gone for work I noticed around 11 PM that the temp in the boy’s room was rising. Our baby monitor shows the room temp for the room being monitored and it said 78 degrees. Odd. Since I had put the hold at 72 degree the night before. I went upstairs and it was no longer on hold and the temp was set to 87 degrees!! I was now concerned. I went through the programs on the thermostat and couldn’t figure out why it would be set to 87. I put the hold back on and turned it to 72 degrees. I didn’t sleep that well, as I kept checking the temperature of the room throughout the night via the baby monitor. Room temperature wouldn’t seem like such a big deal, but I just recently learned that small children can’t regulate their own body temperature until ages 3-5. They will sleep right through extreme temperatures. Which can be very dangerous. I learned this recently from a fellow Mom who posted this chilling and sad story on Facebook very recently. They are still in my thoughts and prayers.

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With this story in mind and then a third night of the thermostat changing temps I was very concerned about this issue by the time Justin arrived home that day. He didn’t seem as concerned as I was. He said he would look into getting a Nest thermostat and getting it installed soon (we use Nest cameras in their room and they have always worked great). I was insistent and finally just made him read the story I posted above. I kid you not, he went right to the hardware store and picked up a new Nest thermostat for $250 and installed it himself that evening. He wasn’t sure if all the wires were properly installed so he called to have our heating and cooling specialist check on it. Another $100 later and we were told it was properly installed and we were assured everything was in proper working order. Our minds could rest easy. Or so we though.

A few hours later Justin hollered to me from his office to ask if I had changed the temp on the new thermostat to 78 degrees. Of course not! It was set to 72 degrees and I double checked it when I put the boys to bed. Justin put two and two together and figured out the problem in about two minutes. The twins. They must be changing the temperature. However, I said they can’t reach the light switch yet.  They aren’t tall enough. image

Justin then said, “remember how there was blood on the wall under their light switch last week?” Of course I did, I had to scrub it off the wall and clean Charlie’s face. We didn’t know what happened at the time, but Justin figured it out. The twins had been climbing on top of their dresser to reach way over and play with the light switches and thermostat. Here I was blamed for leaving their light on overnight a few weeks back. I will take that apology anytime…it wasn’t me! Charlie and Alex were changing the thermostat and playing with the light switches the precious few weeks. They figured out they could lean far over while standing on the dresser and reach both the thermostat and light switches. Obviously, it didn’t go well in the beginning, as Charlie fell from the dresser and smacked his face on the wall, thus leaving blood on the wall and giving him a bloody nose.

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That night we went upstairs and moved the dresser to the right about 6 inches. Of course that was no easy task, since it was fastened to the wall. Justin had to get the tools out, unfasten it from the wall, move it down just far enough so the outlet being used was still covered, and then secure it to the wall once again. Finally, the problem was solved. These twins! We always have to be one step ahead of them! I am just thankful the thermostat is working. Disappointed we disposed of a thermostat that was actually working just fine! We will take the $350 for the thermostat and heating and cooling repair bill out of their future allowance.

I do have to say I am loving the new NEST thermostat. We can check the temp of their room on our phones and IPads. We can also change the temp right from our phone and/or IPads. Crisis averted this time.