Party Central

Despite the fact that we've been back from Colorado for, um... two weeks? I'm still blogging about our trip! I'm a bit behind, as the little man has become a late night reveler this month....

Going to bed started becoming a real issue last month. Before that, we'd have the occasional blip, but generally we'd just head to bed when P was tired (he's a naturally rhythmic kid, so it was a predictable time) and read, cuddle, sleep. He's never welcomed sleep, but the nursing that eventually evolved to just cuddling always sealed the deal. (This, of course, is a mute point when family or company is around. Then he's never tired :)

But no more! He would become agitated when the light went off. Or he'd be angry about brushing his teeth. About a book being over. I couldn't figure it out. It wasn't just because he was over-tired. He was procrastinating. Big time. Not arguing about going to bed, but doing all he could to do things on his time line. It finally dawned on me that he wasn't in the driver's seat, we were still doing his toddler routine, (it had worked well for a few years!) and he just wasn't a toddler anymore. He was ready to decide himself when he'd crawl into bed, but I don't think he realized that was even an option :) Another parenting head smack for me....

So we've tried a new routine since Colorado. I tell him when I'm tired and help him get ready for bed. Then I go to bed (and read) and he plays in the bedroom for as long as he likes. He loves it. There are no more issues about getting ready for bed (other than he'd rather the whole house stay up later and occasionally tries to keep Grams up with a story or a quick question :) But after a few reminders that the adults are exhausted, he happily brushes his teeth and cleans up for bed. He's also playing independently, every night. Something I hadn't been able to finagle for four years. He really understands that I'm tired so he doesn't begrudge my non-participation, unlike any other time of day. And he's just so tickled that he's in charge of his whole day now, that he's happily playing in the corner by himself. Sure, sure, there's typically a question or comment directed towards me every couple of minutes, but there are also periods where he's completely involved in his own little world, chattering to himself. And happily! And he spends a good deal of time every night pouring over books, sitting on the carpet, muttering as he slowly turns pages. I think he gets more reading done than I do, since I so enjoy watching him play :)

He plays for a bit, comes up to cuddle and read, goes to play for a bit, back for a cuddle, goes to play, comes back for one final cuddle and then, purposefully flops around and goes to sleep. I love that he's listening to his body, figuring out when he no longer feels comfortable vertical. I don't know what exhaustion feels like for him, I can't honestly tell him when his head is fuzzy, nows the time to sleep. He has to figure out his body's cues and learn to trust them. So we're trying to give him that safe space. And he's starting to sleep in and make up for his missed hours now that his nocturnal activities keep the light shining bright until 11 or so every night... But it sure is fun having that light on when he goest to sleep these days - I've so missed seeing his sweet eyes grow heavy and finally, relax (since he needed it to be Dark to go to sleep for a while there.) Oh yeah, its a party here!