I'm sitting here passed midnight, with thoughts just swirling around in my head. I'm quite disheartened, because my littlest love of my life is so full of energy, that he ends up going to sleep so late. Oh, but I have him in bed by 8:30...but that doesn't matter, because he always falls asleep passed 10pm. No matter what. He only takes a 2 hour nap from 2-4 (ideally, it would be from 1-3, but I've tried that so many times, and it usually just makes him get his 2nd wind laying in bed, coz he's not sleepy yet, and then he ends up staying awake passed 2pm, which if I had started at 2 to begin with, he woulda been asleep already).
I know that him going to sleep late has a lot to do with the time his beloved daddy gets home. German doesn't get home til between 6:30 and 7pm. That doesn't leave Diego much time with him - maybe a good 40 minutes a night, since bedtime routine starts at 8pm. No wonder he stays up in bed for 2 hours calling for daddy and conjuring up all different excuses for daddy to go to his room. Oh yeah, Diego's done the "make pee pee" excuse...the "I want agua please" excuse, the "ouch, boo boo" excuse. And the list goes on.
Oh, and I took away his nap entirely a few days ago, to get him to fall asleep earlier....BAD MISTAKE. This totally backfired on me. Once it hit 5:30 this child could have fallen asleep on a huge bumpy rock, it didn't matter, his eyes couldn't stay open. I figured he was out for the night. WRONG. He woke up a mere 1.5 hours later and STAYED UP til almost midnight. I'm not trying that again for a long time.
The funny thing is, children are growing and always changing. Months ago, I took away his naps so he would go to sleep on time, and he was fine. But I guess the growth spurts started really kicking in, and so did the demands on the body, coz all of a sudden this child would fall alseep on the floor. He needed his naps back (and I needed him to have it back).
One thing I have considered trying, is taking him to the park after his nap. Every time we go to the park in the morning, Diego always takes his nap easily. So now I'm contemplating taking him back to the park after his nap, to let him burn off more energy. My theory is this: if he's tired when German gets home, then maybe the excitement of having daddy getting home won't send him into a chaotic, happy, frenzy that keeps him up hours after bedtime. Hey, it's worth a shot.
2 comments:
That's what I do with the Bean. There are days he naps from 1-4:30, and then won't go to bed until after nine. Joe takes him outside and runs him ragged. He comes in ready for a relaxing bath, and his comfy bed. Good luck with everything!
thanks, bran bran, we'll see what happens! Wow that beany has energy too!
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