Need solution: how can toddler communicate w/parents from room shared w/baby w/o yelling?

Question

We do not have a firm schedule in our family. Up till now my 2 1/2 yr old has just called out when he wakes from his nap or nighttime sleep. He knows he's not allowed to get out of bed until we come open his door and say it's okay. So he calls and then waits for us to come. This has worked great except that we now are trying to transition his baby brother into his crib which is in the same room as my 2 1/2 yr old's bed. Separate rooms is not an option. My 2 1/2 yr old does not usually wake up when baby cries at night, but my baby DOES wake up if his big brother yells for us. We considered teaching my oldest to use a walkie-talkie but we're not sure he'd understand holding the button down to talk. Same with wireless intercomm systems (and they may not work in our rental anyway due to wiring configurations). We thought of a wireless doorbell but they're so loud they could wake the baby up anyway -never mind jolting us awake. Any other ideas???

Answer 1

Get a baby monitor and put it right beside his bed, you'll hear all that goes on in the room, and he could just talk in a normal voice to say he's ready to get up.

Also, evaluate how often he asks you to get up and isn't allowed to.  If that's a rare occurrence, you may want to consider letting him get up when he wakes up.  You can always send him back to bed occasionally if you need to.  We have 3 sharing a room (almost 7, almost 5, and 3), and they always just get up whenever they're awake.

Answer 2

Put the baby monitor next to his bed.  Tell him that it is his special walkie talkie.  Have him listen in your room while you talk to him in his.  Then have him practice!!!  Worked for my kids!!

Answer 3

I had this exact same situation with my two boys when they were younger.  I just put a baby monitor in their room, and I put it right next to my older son's bed.  I told him if he woke up and needed mommy, to WHISPER my name into the monitor.

I kept the parent side of the monitor on full volume so I heard him just fine, and it didn't wake his baby brother.

I also kept a small fan in the room running for white noise - that also helped drown out any noises either of them made and prevented them from waking eachother up.

Hope this helps!