Jack developed a bad habit in the last few weeks of getting up eighty gazillion times during the night. We called them "pop-ups." He'd pop up out of bed, we'd drag him emotionlessly back to bed, Supernanny-style, and he'd stay there for about four seconds, then pop-up again.
Ugh.
I could tell he was tired, and I knew that if he'd just stay in his room, he'd go to sleep. And I'd be able to relax and watch Survivor.
Finally, Steve and I concocted a plan to keep him in his room. We'd give him his big bucket of Star Wars action figures, point out the books in his room, and tell him to just stay there. It worked. No more pop-ups, and although we'd find books and action figures in his bed, he would go to sleep at a fairly reasonable time.
Last night, we heard him moving around upstairs. Then, we heard his door open. But no pop-up. What was that little scamp up to?
Steve went upstairs and discovered Jack sitting in the hallway, reading one of his picture books. Jack explained that he wanted to read, but, "It was dark in my eyes," so he left his room. Steve escorted him back to his room.
On one hand, my feeling about that was, "Go the hell to sleep, Jackson. It's 9:30." On the other hand, I have many memories of reading in bed well past when I was supposed to go to sleep. I'd sneak a flashlight under my pillow, or even just read by the tiny crack of light under my bedroom door.
But you know what? I didn't do that when I was just two years old. My boy is obviously a genius.
3 comments:
We do that with ours. They can play so long as they are quiet and behave. it helps.
I was never tired right away-they need wind down time.
However, get a rechargable flashlight that can withstand drops. Trust me on that.
We also adopted the "It's OK if you play as long as your in your bed and don't bother us" plan during night time. So far so good. I've also heard of people using "Get Out Bed Free" Passes. You give the kid X amount of passes (write them up on paper) give them to him/her before bed and say "Ok here's your pass when you want to come out. If you use all of them up that is it. No more and no more getting out of your bedroom" Don't know how well it works though LOL
You know what would also keep him in his room? A cage.
Oh goodness, I'm SO not ready to have children yet.
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