A night owl in an earlybird family

We've been trying so hard to get Anders to conform to our family patterns... and so far, it's not working. Today, he slept until 6:30am. He then napped from 1pm - 4pm, and then didn't go to bed until 10:45! With diligence, I might have been able to get him to sleep at 10:15 or so, but I grew weary of trying.

I have been trying to have a set routine for him, so that he gets used to going to bed at the right time. Today, knowing that Anders might not be very tired in the evening, I had Erik stay up later, so we could do our normal "routine". After Erik is in bed, Anders and I read books, and then I put on his pajamas. I then nurse him, and put him to bed. Well, he just wasn't ready--wide awake, in fact.

I think Anders would be happiest on this pattern. Go to bed between 10 and 11. Wake up at 8 or so, take a long nap in the afternoon. So, what's the problem? We are such an earlybird family! Erik is normally asleep by 7, sometimes even by 6. And he's up, with alarming regularity, at 6 am. Both Carl and I prefer to be up between 6 and 7 (most days!), ready to start the day.

Carl's preference is for Anders to skip his nap, and then go to bed much earlier. He then sleeps 12 or 13 hours, so he's still getting good rest. I'm just not a fan of the plan, since it means that he's pretty grumpy in the afternoon.

Right now we just hope that when he's done with naps he'll start going to bed at an earlier time... even if that's 8pm.