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Pick a bird, any bird

Early bird or night owl?

Right now, Ane is both, and it’s killing me. And to top it off, she’s attempting to get rid of her afternoon nap, Lord preserve us.

Because of our usual daily schedule, plus any evening activities and the Webmaster’s work schedule, the kids’ usual bedtime is around 9 pm. I realize that’s late for some of you, but we generally don’t have early morning commitments, so waking up a little later isn’t a problem. Yes, this will have to change when Ane starts preschool (which begins at 9 am). But right now, it’s not a huge deal.

What is a huge deal is that Ane pulls every stall tactic in the book to delay going to bed, and then falling asleep (right up to using the potty at the very last second, though I don’t mind it that much since she’s staying dry all night recently). Then when the Webmaster’s alarm goes off and he starts getting ready for work, she usually wakes up and climbs in bed with me. However, she usually doesn’t go back to sleep. What begins is the “Mommy wake up” routine, where she wants to snuggle, but kicks around and picks at my face, demands breakfast, and when told to go and play in her own room because Mommy needs 5 more minutes, she bounces back in to show me a toy and make sure that I have all my covers on.

And she still needs her afternoon nap, because you don’t want to be around her if she hasn’t. Really. Major meltdowns. Not a pretty picture. If we’re at home, I can usually get her to take one, but if we’re out and she falls asleep in the car, it becomes much harder to move her inside without waking her up.

Tad, on the other hand, has to be woken up after 10-12 hours of sleep (as is normal for a toddler his age), and despite his early baby tendency to just cat-nap through a day, takes a good, solid nap right after lunch. And he will just drop in his tracks to sleep if he’s tired – he’s most adorable when falling asleep in the highchair.

I really wouldn’t mind Ane being an early bird if she wasn’t also a night owl. I, admittedly, am a night owl, but if I knew I was going to have an early bird child, I’d compensate. I can’t handle one kid being both.

Now I know why I’m drinking so much coffee.

2 Responses to “Pick a bird, any bird”

  1. Little Cousin's Mommy
    March 22nd, 2007 11:59
    1

    Little Cousin has fallen asleep in her pink armchair (that she got for Christmas). I have pictures, it’s very cute.

  2. Dozeymagz
    March 24th, 2007 03:57
    2

    It’s almost like looking through a mirror to our own house!