Faithful readers! (All 2 of you;) I'm not even gonna waste my time apologizing for my ridiculous absence. As I'm sure y'all know, life gets in the way.
I want to resurrect the blog for a few reasons. One, I want to keep everyone updated on our family and our homeschooling journey. Two, I want to help anyone I can by sharing our issues and how we find solutions. After all, having a 3 year old and a 1 year old certainly lends itself to lots of lessons for this mommy.
For today, I just want to share the update to Bryson's sleeping issues. For those who don't know, Bryson (3 1/2 yo) has been having some issues with sleeping for about 2 months now. I think I was in denial for a solid month and a half. He has always been such an amazing sleeper. I mean, started sleeping through the night at 2 months and continued until recently. Never had an issue falling asleep, which I firmly attributed to routine. I could not understand what was going on. Until I began doing some research and put my feelers out on Facebook. I was desperate after all.
Background: We had started allowing Bryson to watch a show (usually Paw Patrol) after his bath. It became our new routine, in an effort to spend some quality alone time with him. His old routine, which included bath, lotion and massage, books, and quiet sort of got replaced. My logic was that he was 3 years old and could communicate his wants and needs. He didn't seem fazed by the new routine and was even happy about it. However, upon closer inspection and Mommy gut feelings, I realized that he did miss that routine and it was affecting his sleep. All of a sudden, he was afraid to go to bed, had a hard time falling asleep, woke throughout the night, and got up super early.
Solution: Someone shared with me that children take longer to process things they see. So naturally, watching a tv show right before bed was a bad idea for him. Now, around 5 when I go to make dinner, the T.V. gets turned off. After 5, there is no technology for either child. NO ipad, phone, tv, computer, movie, etc. After dinner, I bathe Brooklyn, read one book to her, and put her to bed. Then it's Brysons turn. He gets a nice relaxing bath, 3 books of his choice, and gets into bed. I turn on his cd player (we rotate between 3 cds of his choice) say prayers, hug and kiss him and leave his room. He does have night lights, and we now leave his door open. Since beginning this new routine, all the issues have completely disappeared. He falls right to sleep and stays that way all night.
To help with the early waking issue, we purchased a special clock. It turns green when he is "allowed" to get up. We set the time for 6:30 and he understands, when it turns green, he can come into our room. I placed some books on his bed for him to read if he wakes up earlier.
I am so thrilled and relieved to have my wonderful sleeper back. It certainly has affected his behavior during the day as well. SO much better all around!
Thank you to everyone who left me wonderful suggestions on Facebook!
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