The trouble with sleep

Bedtime has become one big headache in our house. I knew putting the older boys in the same room was risky, but this is just getting ridiculous. It started out fine. They would talk for just a little bit and then go to sleep. Then I was on maternity leave and it didn’t matter so much when they actually went to bed. And even after I returned to work they were both just going to daycare so they didn’t have to do anything but get dressed and brush their teeth before heading out for the day.

But, now Nick is in school everyday and Zander is in half-day school three times a week. Nick is tired all the time. He regularly says he is going to bed without a book because he just wants to sleep. And lately, he’s taken to wanting to fall asleep with the lights off. Well, that doesn’t fly with Zander. He wants the room lit up like the fourth of July. So, we started putting him to bed in our room. That was fine for awhile, but then, about three weeks ago, he started falling apart at bedtime. He wants more books. He needs a drink. He needs his ‘raff (giraffe lovey). He didn’t give me a kiss. Or a hug. And the list goes on and on.

As if that wasn’t bad enough he started whining. BAD. His favorite lines: “I don’t know how to close my eyes” and “I don’t know how to go to sleep” both said in the whiniest 3-year-old voice imaginable and usually accompanied by flailing arms and legs. It’s awful. And it won’t end. We just have to wait until he gets so tired he falls asleep mid-whine. But, then, when he’s asleep, he just looks so darn peaceful and cute. It’s a good thing, too, because I don’t think I could take this new bedtime routine if he didn’t.