Do you know at what time I took this picture? Midnight. Connor has apparently decided that sleeping is for wimps.I apologize if this is rather incoherent, but I am very, very tired.
He's going through a phase where he tries to put off bedtime as long as possible right now. Every night we read a story, and he asks for more books. Then he needs more water. Then suddenly he has to go potty. Then he needs to snuggle. He tries these delaying tactics as long as he possibly can, but it's all a sham, and usually when we put him down he's out within thirty minutes.
Not tonight. Tonight I put him down around 8:30, which is later than his usual bedtime anyway, and he looked at me and signed:
"No! Eat!"
Assuming this was one of his usual delaying tactics, I told him, "No, honey, it's bedtime."
Then I kissed him and left the room. He didn't cry or protest. He just decided to not go to sleep until he got what he wanted.
I have this issue where I can't fall asleep until Connor is asleep. Does anyone else have this problem? It's simply physically impossible for me to go to sleep while he's awake. After lying in bed staring at the ceiling and listening to him sing for about an hour, I went back in to his room.
"What do you need, baby?" I asked.
"Up!" he signed. I kissed him and told him to go to sleep.
After listening to him yodeling happily to himself in his crib for another two and a half hours, I finally gave up and went back in. He gave me a big grin when he saw me. Victory was his!
"Up!" he signed.
I gave in and brought him into our bed. This is our fool-proof, never-fails way of getting him to sleep. Usually he conks out within five minutes. Instead he rolled over to look at me and started yelling for my attention. My child is nothing if not persistent.
"What, baby?" I finally groaned after it was obvious that he was not going to sleep any time soon.
"Eat!"
It's now 12:54 at night and I just finished feeding him most of a bottle, which is what he wanted in the first place. He's back in his crib, still giggling, talking to himself and listening to Peter and The Wolf on tape for the fifth time. When I put him back down, he grinned and signed: "No!" I'm not sure how long he's planning to stay up. Maybe he's going for some kind of record.
Thank God I don't have anything big going tomorrow (or I suppose I should say today), as I'm going to be good for absolutely nothing.
My son isn't stubborn at all, is he?
~Jess
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11 comments:
I am the absolute wrong person to comment on anything regarding children and sleep habits. Both my kids are STILL sleeping with us. Last night, I tried to put my foot down. Only problem: Hubby wasn't up for dealing. She he decided they could do it again.
Sigh. I feel for you!
Aw. I totally feel your pain. What is it with these kids?! Yours is trying to stay up as late as possible. Mine doesn't want to sleep AT ALL during the day and go to bed earlier and earlier each night. JEESH. I guess they'll make for funny stories later.
He stayed up until 2:30 in the morning. He woke up at 8:00.
I'm pretty sure that by 11:00 or so he will have morphed into Mr. Crabbypants, the Harbringer of Doom.
Ellen: We had always planned to have Connor sleep with us, but by the time we brought him home from the hospital he'd had 5 1/2 weeks of sleeping by himself, and he would have none of it-- at least until he hit age two and the separation anxiety began. Now he'd be perfectly happy to spend eternity velcroed to my hip, and I'm the one who wants my privacy.
Gloria: Connor decided he'd give up naps at 18 months, but Elayna's a wee bit early for that. Maybe we can magically combine the two kids and we'll get a perfect sleeper!
I am so glad you stopped by my blog so I could read your amazing journey. I had to go back and read most of your blog, and boo-hooed to say the least! Good luck with the sleeping habits - it seems as soon as you figure it out their schedule changes!
I can't imagine where sweet cute cuddly little Connor got this stubborn streak of his from ;)
Kkohler: Thanks for stopping by! Connor's an amazing kiddo, isn't he? As for the sleeping habits, well he will NOT be making a habit out of this. I need more than six hours of sleep a night if I am to maintain anything resembling sanity. :)
Shannon: I have absolutely no idea where he got it from. I'm just as gentle and complacent as a lamb. Must be his Daddy.
Right.
Hey you :)
I know what you mean about not going to sleep until the children (in my case, 3) are asleep. The only exception is if my husband stays awake, which he does on the rare occasion.
Okay, here's what you're doing wrong----DON'T GO IN TO CHECK if he is asleep. You'll know he is awake because you'll hear him talking and such to himself. The more you go in there, the more he'll outlast you. Yes, I couldn't go to sleep until I knew the kids were asleep, but if he isn't screaming, let him be. He's learning to fall asleep on his own and that is GREAT! Now, put aside your curiosity to what he's doing and let him be. You'll be fine, really. It's really more your problem than his and that's easier to correct! Be Strong! :)
Carrie: Hi! Glad to know I'm not the only one with this quirk. I swear, it's some sort of built in Mommy-meter.
Lin: Thanks for the advice! This is actually very unusual behavior for the little guy-- he's been going to sleep alone and sleeping through the night since he was 6 months old, and he usually sleeps somewhere between 10-12 hours. That's why I was so tired-- I'm really used to getting my beauty sleep! I went in because he was making his "I need your attention for something" noise pretty persistantly-- when you've got a kid that is nonverbal, it's hard to not go in since they can't tell you what they need over the monitor. Maybe I should get one of those video ones or something.
Yeah, like a wireless webcam. I know this is totally inappropriate... BUT it kinda looks like he's givin you the bird. Although I'm pretty sure that's not in his vocabulary yet. Hope tonight was better for you.
Gloria-- it may not be in his vocab yet, but I'm pretty sure that sometimes the sentiment is there. :)
I know that they make those video monitors because there was somebody a while back who was picking up images from the space station on theirs. Remember that news story? I'm just not sure I could bring myself to use one-- I'd be too tempted to start yelling "Big Brother is watching you!" down the hallway whenever I saw him getting up to mischief.
Tonight was much, much better, thanks!
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