Sleep, or the lack of.
Today marks the second day Jamie has gone without a nap. Yesterday he had had a very disturbed night (which had also been a trend up until last night) and eventually slept in until 8:30 (rather than his more typical 7:00). When he didn't really want to nap at 12:30 we weren't too surprised, but tried to encourage him. After an hour we gave up, and he continued through until his normal 7:30 bedtime really none the worse for wear. Last night he had a really good night - the first for some time - and then slept in until 9:00 or so. He had had a wakening at 5:45 when Adrian went in and told him off for throwing his water cup about (I think. I was mostly asleep at the time, and only listening over the monitor). Today, however, he really wasn't showing signs of sleep and we just let him stay up. He began to get grumpy about 3:30 so we tried to enforce a nap then, but to no avail. He got more and more miserable until we finally cobbled together a hasty bedtime and put him to bed half an hour early. We shall see what tomorrow (and tomorrow and tomorrow, so creeps on etc etc) brings. I don't really feel ready for a child who doesn't take a nap though. Really, not.
Katie is also sleeping slightly erratically, but mostly I think because she's a bit ill. I also don't take very much notice of when she does sleep because her signs are so very clear (which wasn't really true with Jamie - I put him on a schedule because I could never tell what he actually wanted). I'm thinking that as we all get over this nasty cold I'll work a little harder to encourage a routine for Katie. I've never been one for forcing a child to sleep (aka banishing them to the crib while they scream) or waking them up before they're ready, but whether or not Jamie gives up his nap, if I'm going to achieve anything during the day I need to know when I can and cannot be about. Especially as she gets to the point of not sleeping so well in the car. She slept well last night. Adrian went in twice and put her back to sleep just by putting on the white noise/water sounds. She took her first bottle at 8:00 and although Adrian tried to encourage her to go back to bed (he's still ill too) that was pretty much when she got up. So a good night all round, and still not enough sleep.
Katie is also sleeping slightly erratically, but mostly I think because she's a bit ill. I also don't take very much notice of when she does sleep because her signs are so very clear (which wasn't really true with Jamie - I put him on a schedule because I could never tell what he actually wanted). I'm thinking that as we all get over this nasty cold I'll work a little harder to encourage a routine for Katie. I've never been one for forcing a child to sleep (aka banishing them to the crib while they scream) or waking them up before they're ready, but whether or not Jamie gives up his nap, if I'm going to achieve anything during the day I need to know when I can and cannot be about. Especially as she gets to the point of not sleeping so well in the car. She slept well last night. Adrian went in twice and put her back to sleep just by putting on the white noise/water sounds. She took her first bottle at 8:00 and although Adrian tried to encourage her to go back to bed (he's still ill too) that was pretty much when she got up. So a good night all round, and still not enough sleep.