I am afraid that James has inherited the worst sleep habits from each parent. I would typically characterize him as a night owl, like Jeremy. He has a very hard time getting to sleep at night, sometimes lying awake in his dark room for an hour or more. Many (including his pediatrician) have suggested to me, "Well, then he must not be tired - don't make him go to bed so early." But I am the one who has to wake him up in the mornings for school, and he is definitely needing more sleep. I drag him, protesting, from his bed on school days, and he staggers about in a funk for quite a while. Since school starts when it does, the only option for more sleep is an earlier bedtime.
On the other hand, his owlishness completely disappears on Saturdays. We try to keep a consistent weekend bedtime, so if all worked well, he would still be about ready to rise at 7 AM weekends, like on weekdays. Or, based on how difficult it is to rouse him weekdays, maybe he should sleep in a bit on weekends. Of course, this is not the case.
It is common for James to be the early bird in the house on weekends - usually the first one up. In this, he takes after me, or at least after what I used to be like before I started copying Jeremy's late hours as a way to get things done after kids were sleeping, and a way to see Jeremy once in a while.
Lately, I have been back on my regular early wake-up routine. Regardless of when I get to bed, I have been wide awake by about 5 AM each day for the past two weeks. Now this is extreme, even for me. I therefore can only blame it on the pregnancy. Perhaps my body is preparing for the sleep cycle of an infant, since the result of these early risings seems to be a 2 hour nap in the day and a 5-6 hour nighttime sleep.
Last night (Friday) I managed to make it all day without a nap, thinking that would put me on a more regular schedule. Alas. I was sound asleep on the couch at 8 PM. And of course, wide awake at 5 AM. I decided to just get up and be productive, this time.
Actually, it worked out pretty well. I made a lot of progress on work at that hour, when my brain is naturally most creative and alert. I spent an hour on my research project (weighing on me lately with a 2-month deadline for producing a conference paper), then spent 2 more hours on paperwork for my reappointment and promotion process at work (weighing on me a bit with a 1-month deadline, and a baby due in the midst of that). I felt pretty effective.
However, I apparently wasn't quiet enough. I carefully closed all the bedroom doors before going about my day, and avoided the microwave and other noisy activities. Still, at 5:30, James came creeping downstairs.
"James, it is way too early for you to be up. Go back to bed." He obeyed, but I could tell from his face it was too late. He was up and alert and wouldn't be going back to sleep today. Argh!
I checked on him at 6:00 and sure enough, he was lying awake in the dark, in his bed. I allowed him to read a book in bed, and then to get up at 6:30. We will all be paying for this in his attitude later today or tomorrow, no doubt. Waking up 2 hours early is not a good start for him.
I tried to trace the cause this time, but there are too many options. Turns out he has a cough that kept him awake off-and-on in the night and might have prevented him from going back to sleep. (We'll try the humidifier in his room tonight.) Perhaps more telling was what he told me later this morning - he got up at 5 AM to use the bathroom, and saw lights on downstairs. He said he thought that maybe Mrs. W. had come to stay so Jeremy and I could go to the hospital to have the baby, so he had to come down to investigate. I guess that makes sense. Once he had that thought, I am sure he was too wired to go back to sleep under any circumstances. At night, I often tell him to "turn off the brain" and go to sleep - he has trouble shutting down his racing thoughts so he can relax and drift off. I am sure it is just as difficult for him in the early AM as at night.
So, this time, I can chalk it up to ... illness, anticipation, a good week of sleep. Still, it would be nice to figure out how to make that boy sleep.
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