my boy & my closet.

 So precious. So innocent with his little face sans glasses/patch. So misleading.

I will tell you that it is a darn good thing he is so cute because he would sure be difficult to live with if he wasn't. We are having some sleep issues. (I think they are issues, maybe it is normal? People with 2 year olds, tell me if this is normal!)

Anderson has never been a great sleeper. He just does not need a lot of sleep & has genuinely been much more interested in playing construction, running around, yelling loudly, etc. instead of sleeping. (This goes for his lack of interest in eating, too). I can count the times he has ever slept close to 7 in his life on one hand. All of this is fine because I am honestly just used to it. I mean, this is  being a parent, right? But, the frustrating thing is that he has stopped sleeping straight through the night,stopped napping & doesn't go to bed until at least 8:30 despite getting up at 5:30. I clearly lived in a naive bubble because I didn't realize napping stopped so early. He definitely still needs one, but letting him take one means him staying up until even later at night because he is not as tired. If you are one of the lucky ones who still has naptime, cling to it with all of your might!

So, back to the waking up at night thing, for about the last 6 weeks Anderson has just randomly been waking up during the night. And standing at his door. And screaming. And banging. For an hour or so.  (Remember, we lock him in at night. Responsible parenting.) We didn't sleep at all ignored it for awhile and then he slept in our room on the cruise so we got a solid 10-5 sleep. But, now we've been back for a month now and he has not slept through an entire night once. My only conclusion is sympathy pains for Stella who was born a month ago.

The above pic is an attempt to capture my new bed in the closet. I have blankets & pillows in there because I move in there after he wakes up so I can try not to hear him because it heart breaking. I tried to go in & check on him, lay with him until he fell asleep, bought him a nightlight, tractor pillow, blankets, a fan, stuffed animals, etc. We started making him cry it out the day he turned 12 weeks old and it was just as hard then as it is now. I am seriously committed to not going in there to see if the situation improves.It is so heartbreaking & I know there are people who judge this and I am totally jealous. Because, if you have time to judge me that must mean you are rested so your kid is obviously sleeping.

The 5am wake up call is just a part of parenting, but the middle of the night wake up calls are not normal for a 2 year old, I don't think. I know Lily is not a good sleeper either. What is in our genes?I am lucky I have Nicole who also has a non sleeper because we can discuss how the worst part of the non sleeping is not us being tired or the kids being exhausted but the extra hours to try to entertain them. That might sound terrible, but tonight when you are putting your kid to bed imagine that you actually have 3-5 extra hours to stay awake with them. Then, we will chat. I'm not even bringing up the patch, you'll notice. Maybe just a a little bit. 

My favorite suggestion is to "Wear him out. " Ahem. My kid is awake for almost 16 hours a day, does not watch TV & is constantly on the move. Nothing left to do there.

Anyway, I just wanted to document this so one glorious day in 10 years when he sleeps until 7:15 or so I can be reminded of who he was at this point. I like to document things. I am a nerd.