Sleep and Teeth

One of Ezra's 2yr molars finally broke through! He's been teething since at least beginning of September, and now we have success! He's still working pretty hard on the other three, and I'm hoping they come soon, but you never can tell with those pesky teeth, now can ya?

I also wanted to mention his sleep issues, mostly so that in 2 years from now, if Baby 2.0 is having trouble, I can remember what I tried and how it was going.

He has ALWAYS been an early riser- 5:30AM is not uncommon for our dear Ezra, but a normal day was usually closer to 6 or 6:30. Lately, he's either been sleeping in until 7 or later, or getting up at 4AM. Now, the sleeping until 7 is great, but the 4AM is not so fun. When he does get up at 4ish, he is happy to go back to bed- after a few stories and a cuddle. One night, he would not go back to bed without sleeping WITH me, and because I was tired of fighting it at so early an hour, Ezra and I napped on the couch before the sun came up. So here is what we are trying now: the first thing we did was move his bedtime back to 7:30. We also put a nightlight in his room so that when he gets up before it's time, he can see, and potentially entertain himself for a while. Last night was the first night he would let us leave it on, however. Apparently he is a rare toddler who prefers the dark. Also, I gave him a pillow (okay it's a folded towel in a pillow case) to sleep with- maybe he's just not comfortable. He LOVES having a pillow. I think it makes him feel grown up. Another thing we did is I encouraged him to sleep with his doll, Calliou, and he has really taken to that idea. He now cuddles with him, gives him baths, reads him the Bible and tried to get him dressed, and such. It is really very cute. He's like Calliou's parent. We implemented these changes slowly, trying one at a time, and so far, no success. Until now (I hope!).

Last night, he slept until 7AM, and I have no idea if it was just because his mouth stopped bugging him for a time, or he was playing in there for an hour before he came knocking, or what it was, but we shall see if the trend continues. I would really like the "getting up much too early but still needing to go to bed in an hour, for an hour" problem solved before the new baby comes. At the very least, I would like to be able to convince him it's not time to get up and to not have to go to drastic measures in order to get him to go back to bed- I'd like him to do it on his own. I will keep you (and me) posted!