Nighty Night

Dear Ian,

I am a lucky Mommy.  Since you were about six or seven months old, you just seemed to "get" sleeping time.  It was a long road to get you to that point; Mommy even got called the Nap Nazi once or twice, but we were proud to say that you were a great napper, and night time sleep was even better.  You go into your crib happily and with the company of Lovey and your sound machine, you fall right to sleep and stay that way until a reasonable morning hour.  Before last week your sleeping routine was as follows: up at 7:15am, nap time from 12:40 or so until 2:40 or 3pm, and then bed time at 7:45.  Pardon the pun, but your sleep skills were a dream!  The only variations or deviations occurred around the occasional family event or holiday or illness.  But even then, it only took you a day or two to get back into your routine.

However, and I say this with my finger in the air, lately you have sorta lost your mind when it comes to sleep.  Personally, I think we are stuck in an "overtired loop."  The other night, you woke up in the middle of the night upset and crying.  Not really sure what was up, Daddy and I were awake with you from 1am until about 3am (and then his servers crashed at 5am, but that's not your issue).  The next morning you were up slightly earlier than usual - about 6:30 or something - and fussy.  Figuring you were still sleepy from the night before, we pushed nap a bit early, and then did the same thing for bed time.  It backfired on us, or something else was going on; I have no idea.  But for the past week, you have been short napping and waking up at 5:30am crying and ready to have someone in your room entertaining you.  Or something like that.

Ordinarily, I would be frustrated but not so worried about this sort of situation.  But the fact that it coincides with me going back to work, having to function on very little sleep all week and helping you transition to going to big school has made this a bit of an issue.  It's been tough, but I am really hoping that you get yourself worked out again soon.


Today you actually took a good nap again, so that makes me feel a little better.  And you went down for bed much more smoothly than last night, so I am hoping we are on the upswing from this little adventure.  I keep reminding myself that, as I did when you were tiny, this is just a moment in the long run, and that in about 12 years, I will be cattle-prodding you out of bed.  This too shall pass, but in the meantime, I really wish it would pass after 6:30am. 


Good night, Little Bear, and I will see you (at a hopefully reasonable hour) in the morning.


Love,
Mommy