the "art" of twin sleep

Getting the girls to sleep and to sleep well has always been a challenge. In the early days we would worry so much about one waking the other so we would always rush to comfort or remove when one would cry. It never turned out that they woke each other. Our urgency wasn't really necessary in those days.

In the early days we were so regimented with putting them "down for nap" at the same time so that they would be on the same eating/sleeping schedule to make life easier for all of us. They did pretty well when they were forced to sleep when the first would show signs of drowsiness. They eventually got on the "same" schedule.

In those days, it seemed like Little Pie was going to be a "better" sleeper. She was the first to sleep through the night (around 4 months). Little Bird finally "slept through the night" around 9 months. She still doesn't consistently sleep through the night. Little Pie usually falls asleep first and wakes up first. Little Bird can struggle with falling asleep and staying asleep (she's like her mama). 

Now that the girls are getting older and way more aware of their surroundings, it has been harder for them to fall asleep/stay asleep if the other one is having difficulty. Right now Little Bird fights a nap with everything she's got. She manages to keep Little Pie awake as well, even though she appears as if she could fall over any minute. I struggle with how to deal with this. The girls are so attached to each other that they won't sleep unless the other is there. It may work at night when they just can't ignore their exhaustion, but at nap time they will easily put up a fight if the other isn't there. Not even when they are sick.

On the other hand, they can't sleep with each other either. Who can sleep when someone is yelling at you to jump, asking where you are, telling you to wake up?

My choices to solve this problem are:

1. Do nothing. Certainly children have survived sharing a room with a sibling. Can't they just figure out how to deal with what they've been given? Daddy shared a room with his brother for a while and he's a great sleeper now!
2. Have one girl sleep in a pack 'n play in the guest room. I don't see this being successful. They are already the size of their pack 'n plays and I always feel bad when they have to sleep in them when we are away. I also see them throwing a fit about being the one banished to the guest room.
3. Move one of the girls completely out of the room and give her the guest room. I don't want to do this. I like that they share a room and have each other when they need each other. I always imagined that one day when they were like 12, they would ask to have their own room and we would happily accommodate.  Also, I don't want to go though all the work of putting a room together and find out they are completely devastated that they aren't together anymore.
4. Figure out how to teach Little Bird to be quiet so that Little Pie can sleep. I have absolutely no idea how to do this.
5. Get a babysitter to come over and deal with nap time while I go enjoy a tasty brewed beverage and a good book. HA!

In the end, they sleep well with each other at night and I think that's what really counts. Nap time has always been difficult and will probably always be difficult until I finally wave the white flag. These days if they don't nap, they aren't that cranky the rest of the day. It used to be that if a nap was missed they would be horribly out of sorts. I guess that means they really don't need to sleep every afternoon and I'm just going to have to live with it.

...

After writing the above I went upstairs to get the girls. It had been an hour and half and no sleep. I walked in the room and asked why they didn't take a nap. Little Pie confidently said, "Sophie's naughty. She need time out. She not watch Elmo. Evie can't sleep anymore." Little Bird didn't argue.