May 22nd--The Energizer Bunny

Anders has been in a pretty predictable pattern for quite awhile now. He refuses to nap, though he's tired, so to compensate we put him to bed early. I mean, really early. Most nights he's asleep by 5:30.

Our routine is simple, but effective. After dinner, he brushes his teeth, gets pajamas on, takes his Claritin, and finally I nurse him to sleep. He's out within a few minutes; I carry him to his bed, and he sleeps until around 6 am.

However, on a few occasions, growing ever more frequent, he won't fall asleep while nursing. Now, clearly, this will present problems. He will not fall asleep. The same issue happens with a naptime, in that he won't slow down enough to fall asleep. He is in constant motion (even just little movements), and he will not sleep. Most of the time I end up nursing him again, much later, and he'll finally fall asleep, closer to 7:30 or 8.

Tonight was one such night. I actually attempted to nurse him to sleep 3 different times. It just wasn't happening. Most of the time, we deduce that he's already overtired when we start putting him to bed, but it shouldn't have been the case tonight, as I was nursing him by 5:15, if not even earlier. He was tired, as was evidenced by the fact that he almost fell asleep when we were driving in the car in the afternoon. Yet, he would not fall asleep.

This continued on. 5:30. 6. 6:30. 7. Yes, even 7:30. By 7:30, I thought I might lose it, and my frustration level was near the top. Erik had gone to bed, as well, and the two of them were playing around. I was taking care of baby R, so I couldn't as easily keep them in bed.

By 8:15, Erik was asleep. And yet, the energizer bunny also known as Anders was still going strong. He was spinning the chair, trying to read books in the dim light, playing with his stuffed animals, crawling into Erik's bed. For the fourth time, I took him out to nurse him (which I am doing as I type this). And finally. Finally! He fell asleep.

Now, if he would sleep until 8:30 tomorrow, I wouldn't mind. The reality is, however, that he will wake up at 6 am, or even earlier, and be ready to go. Except, he will be grumpy and whiny, as he always is when he's overtired. I will count the hours until 5pm when I can get him to bed and break the tiredness cycle. I will hold him a lot, read him a lot of books, snuggle him frequently, and just love on him, as I work him through being tired and grumpy. And when he falls asleep on time tomorrow... I will marvel at the little boy who is no longer a toddler. A little boy who can play for hours at a time. A little boy who, by sheer willpower, can resist the tantalizing pull of sleep.

Here is the little bunny right before the third attempt at nursing him to sleep.