I have been tremendously fortunate to have 2 children who like to go to bed early. Addison (almost 5 months) tends to come home from daycare around 4:45, eat her last 7 oz bottle around 5:45 and she is down for the count. So, by 6 Addison is asleep and she sleeps til 6:45AM if not later. Trenton was very similar at that age and we truly did not do anything magic to make this happen - it just did. Well, I am now seeing the bad side of having children who go to bed early - his name is Trenton.
Trenton gets to the point where he will put himself to bed. It could be 6:45 and Wes and I are trying to keep him up until 7 and he will tell us it is time to take a nap and go upstairs. Recently, he has been staying up til 7 or 730 - sometimes even 8! Well, no matter what time we put him down, that precious, loud child is up early! The beginning of this week I was at a loss. One day Trenton would wake up at 5:00, then next 5:30, while not ideal, Wes is up around 545 every day, so this was manageable. Let me explain what happens when T wakes up. He sleeps with his door shut (2 dogs = endless noise). When he wakes up he yells for me. "Mommy!" Precious, right? Not 3 seconds later, "MMMOOOMMMMMYYYYY" (louder). Typically, Addison hears this and just goes back to sleep. Tuesday, Tuesday was bad. Tuesday "Mommy!" I was not even up, but Wes goes and gets him and throws him in our bed. Normally, we sit there for a little bit before we head downstairs for breakfast (luxury of summers off), but I look at my clock 3:45AM! What!?! Trenton is ready to play and read a book and then rattles off what he wants for breakfast. Um, it is time to sleep. I try many things - showing him it is still dark, so we need to be asleep, ignoring him, nothing works. Then, it gets a little more frustrating.
When Wes puts T in the bed, Wes still lies just as though T isn't there, so I am sharing a side of the queen bed with my 2.5 year old. Normally, this would be precious, but this morning he decided he wanted to hit me with his bear, kick me, tell me that he needs covers, then, the thing that pushed me over the edge, he started playing in my ear! I got up, walked to his room and hid underneath his comforter. Next thing T comes in "Mommy, where are you?" He finds me. Thankfully he goes back to our room, Wes puts him on the bed and I get about 30 minutes of uninterrupted sleep.
That day, Nona came over after her hair cut and helped me with the 2 of them. She had a talk with Trenton, I had a talk with Trenton, Trenton's teacher had a talk with him, and something clicked! Naturally, the next morning 6:45 rolls around and he is still asleep. Unfortunately, this was the day I had to be someone at 8. I had dropped something in the bathroom earlier, but I just finish getting ready and go get T. I open his door and he goes, "Mommy, you are loud". HA! Isn't he precious.
This morning, T was up around 6:30 and did yell for me, something we are working on, but (and I hope this is just a one night thing) he woke up at 1:00AM crying (bad dream?). He gets in our bed and the game starts again - kicking, playing in ears (this time his Daddy's) and finally Wes takes him back to his room and he goes back to sleep.
So, while many people are constantly asking how I get my kids to go to bed so early - it isn't always the best thing. Our next step, buy Trenton a digital clock and make a sign so he can match the numbers and know when it is acceptable to yell for Mommy. :)
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