Sleep

As of late, Nora and Stuey each have their own little challenges with sleep.

Stuey goes to sleep right away in his own room, but then comes into our room at 1 or 2 AM and climbs into our bed. I had been going along with this for many, many months until I realized that it was making me tired.

So I made up a little bed at the foot of our bed, so when he comes in, we have him go to sleep there. Sometimes he cries and says, "Mommy-I want to sleep next to mommy"...which of course tugs at my heart strings and I let him sleep on the side of me. So then I'm sandwiched between streched out Stuey and warm-blooded Patrick...I end up being squished and over heated (and we always keep the thermostat on OFF in our bedroom and most of the house at night!).
All of a sudden I'm realizing that he is nearly 5-and doesn't necessarily HAVE to be coming to our room or our bed. I suppose I"m a softie.

With Nora, she has a hard time getting to sleep. She is a night owl and it takes her a good 1+ hour to wind down. We do the bath, reading routine and I give her books on tape to listen to but she still requires serious down time to fall asleep. For several months, I got frusturated with her difficulty going to sleep. This is mainly because I was thinking she was trying to work the system and stay up. Plus, the hour or two after the kids are in bed are so precious to Patrick and I; a few hours to do our reading, writing, etc without kids interrupting. Then I came to the realization that she doesn't enjoy being up and is frusturated by not sleeping.
A few weeks ago, I changed the approach. I told her to not feel rushed to go to sleep at all and take her time. Since she sleeps in later than Stuey, I expect that she will go to sleep way later than Stuey. This has made a difference, as well as me laying with her for a few minutes. I lay in her bed and she tells me what her favorite parts of her day are. As I lay there and brush the hair off her face in a calming sweeping motion, she starts yawning, rubbing her eyes and getting more tired.

I thought that once Nora and Stuey weren't babies or toddlers, that the sleep difficulties would disappear. Its so much better than it used to be; our friend Mark who is here reminds us of the days when Nora would cry for a solid hour at bed time...despite me trying everything under the sun to get her to sleep....

Zoya