Early to Rise

Jack has always been a decent sleeper.  Well, except for the newborn/growth spurt days.  I am still traumatized by his 3 week growth spurt (eat for an hour, sleep for an hour, eat for an hour, sleep for an hour. . .).  Anyway, he’s always gladly slept until 7:30 or 8:00.  There was even a time when he was a young toddler that he would sleep until almost 9:00.  It was wonderful. The husband and I could lounge in bed on the weekends waiting for Jack to wake.

Probably about a year ago, he started waking around 7:30.  I’m ok with a 7:30 wake-up.  I can go to sleep around 11:30 and still get a decent amount of sleep.  Let me tell you what I am not ok with, 5:30.  Waking at 5:30 is never a good idea.  I have to do it during the week for work, but on the weekend? Hell no.  Over the last 10 days, Jack has decided to get up earlier than 7:30.  He has been getting up anywhere between 5:00 and 6:00.  I am not amused.

On a weekeday, it’s not a  huge deal.  I get up at 5:20 so if he’s up early, I’m already up.  On the weekend? It’s a huge deal.  I have zero desire to start my day at 5:30 on a Saturday.  Fortunately, Jack is fairly trustworthy.  I can set him up with the iPad, some dry cereal or a poptart and then go back to bed.  The problem is that this is becoming the norm as opposed to a once in a while thing.  The other day the child came into my room at 4:20 and declared that he was done sleeping.  FOUR TWENTY AM PEOPLE.  That is what most people call ungodly.  Fortuntately my husband took Jack back to bed and I got another hour of sleep, but still.

This morning when he woke at 5:30, I did what any rational mother would do at 5:30 in the morning.  I interrogated quizzed him as to why he was out of bed when last night I had specifically told him not to get out of bed  until I came to get him.  He claimed that he room is too dark.  He has a sound machine with a light on it, but it doesn’t give much light.  So tonight, guess who is getting a brand new night light?

Ultimately, I think that part of the issue is that he wakes up to use the bathroom and then just doesn’t want to go to sleep.  I also think that he enjoys the iPad and even though he is tired, is smart enough to know that I will eventually stop telling him to go back to bed and let him have his iPad.

So, if the night light fails tonight (which I’m 99% sure that it will), I have no idea where to go from here.  The child needs to sleep later than  5:30.  He drags all day because of it.  HELP!

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