In the last month or two, Will lost his desire/ability to go to sleep at a reasonable hour. Not sure how or why but it’s driving me nuts.
Historically, our ‘routine’ was in pajamas, teeth brushed and bedtimes stories read by 8 or 8:30pm, at the latest. Usually, after in bed, he’d bang around for 10-15 minutes then silence. Now recently, he gets out of bed between 3 and 37 times a night with excuses like:
- can I have a band aid?
- I’m thirsty
- I’m hungry
- I’m still thirsty
- I can’t sleep
- I need to look at myself in the bathroom mirror
- I have an idea, tomorrow, let’s go fishing
As I write this, it’s 10:21pm and he is still awake after I put him down two hours ago…Go to SLEEP!!!
The reaction:
At the end of the day, because I’m tired and often I don’t react well to this situation. I know I should be more patient but its a struggle. KW is much better about reacting with a ‘positive’ solution (let’s read one more book) vs my ‘negative’ one (if you get up one more time, I’ll take your beloved Orca whale stuffed animal and throw it out the window).
Normally, I have more patience, honestly.
From the 15 minutes of research I’ve done, the ‘routine’ is a must have. Which we do. He knows the routine, we discuss it so no surprises. Perhaps we could be more consistent with the time we get him into bed….
The cause:
Could he be going through a growth spurt? The easiest cause to point my finger at is that he sometimes naps at school. And he did today. But, some days with no nap, he still can’t get to sleep at a reasonable time, for a 4 year old.
So, what suggestions do you have to help get our 4 year old to stay in his bed and fall asleep at a reasonable hour??
26.2 with Toddler 
I wish I had a magic cure, but we’re still fighting this with the 10y/o and 12 y/o! Instead of “can I have a band-aid,” (which we got for years) it’s “did you know they estimate there are 9000 Chines Spies in the US” or “I have nothing to wear… I can’t go to school because all of my clothes are ugly.”
Makes the bourbon taste extra good, though!
PS– shhhhh, I think they are all asleep.
I’m in the basement, below his room and it (FINALLY) went quiet about 10 minutes ago.
Are there really 9000 chinese spies…:-)
According to either “Big Book of Boys’ Stuff” or “Big Book of Spy Stuff” (sorry, I get them confused….just you wait), yes!
I have raised four kids and I don’t know the answer to that one. This made me laugh because now the grandkids are wanders at night. I was told our grandson that is three was looking out the window at midnight and told his dad that the moon was cool.
Thanks for reading my blog.
Yes, the moon is cool. And I’ve been told so are the stars, as he also looks out his window when he should be sleeping.
🙂
Our kids don’t sleep well either, I feel your pain. I also am not the most patient in these situations, my wife buffers my impatience.
As long as the household has ‘balance’, right?