The Sleep Nazi

I politely refer to myself as the Sleep Nazi (remember the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld? Yea, that's me....) I take great pride in having rested, healthy children. Key words, rested AND healthy. Both at the same time is amazing, and you can't have one without the other. They will get sick without sleep, and when they do get sick, they need even more sleep. I become the Captain of Bedtime (and bitchyness) after 7pm, and become quite bossy. Kyle has just got used to taking my orders when it comes to putting the kids to bed, but he too has learned what happens if you just let it go, and let them go to bed when they "seem tired".

Bedtime around here is like bootcamp. It is VERY routine, but I found out very early with Tyler, without a routine, he was quite confused. Now, he knows exactly what is coming next, and sometimes moves to that "step" by himself. We're now starting those routines with Connor, although Connor's problem is that he just wants to go to bed so damn early, that his day starts anyway between 5 and 6am, or earlier. Tyler used to be the exact same way, and I didn't know that kids slept past 6am until he was almost 3 years old. That was a LONG 3 years. We just had gotten to the point where he would sleep until almost 7am on the weekends (Wo Hoo!!!), and now we're starting over. This morning (Sunday), Connor was up at 6am. Ugh!

Even the best bedtime routine though, cannot control what happens in the middle of the night, and last night was no exception...

Around 3am, I am in a dead sleep, and something wakes me up. After I slowly figure out what is going on (I must've REALLY been dead!), I realize that Tyler is standing about 2 inches from my face. Something must've woke him up. I ask him if he's okay, needs to go potty, etc., etc., and he says he's okay. I then start following him back to his bedroom, but instead, he makes a beeline for the living room and literally starts jogging!!!! "I wanna watch a show!" He keeps saying. I bear hug him and carry him back his room, and then sit on his bed with him to calm him down. I get him back to sleep and get back in bed.

4:15, Connor wakes up. No surprise. He took a 3 HOUR NAP Saturday morning! I believe that might be a new record - we even checked on him a couple times to make sure he was still breathing. (It was like having a 4 day old baby in the house again.) Because of all of that sleep (and about 1 more hour of napping throughout the day), he didn't want to go to bed at night, and, woke up early. I made Kyle get up with him since I had just gotten back in bed. Kyle said he was WIDE awake, but fought him back to sleep.

6am, Connor is up for the day. No problem, except he is the NOISIEST kid in the world in the morning! For some reason, he has this constant "drone" noise that he makes that is on such a key that it makes your spine shiver. By 6:45, he had woken Tyler up, who didn't nap yesterday, went to bed too late last night, was up once last night, and is VERY crabby. *sigh*

I try not to let their sleep, or lack of it at times, bother me too much, but everyone knows a rested kid = a happy kid. And a happy kid = a happy mommy!

Our friends and neighbors remind us that soon enough our kids will be independent and won't need us to get up with them in the morning, and will put themselves to bed. The thought of that makes me giddy with excitement, but, I also secretly love this cuddly "needy" stage. One of my favorite parts of my day is when I'm putting Connor to sleep in his room. I have his sound machine one, which drowns out the noise of the rest of the house, and it's just me and him, and my thoughts. I can think so clearly, and spend as much time thinking about stuff as I need. I'll miss that when it's gone, so I'll probably hold on to that as long as I can, or at least until Connor tells me to stop! =)