ZZZzzzz

Before having a child I admit to completely taking sleep for granted. Since having Cole, I find a good night's sleep to be somewhat elusive. The first six months of his life were spent with me pumping breast milk (Cole never learned to suck and is fed through a g-tube) every few hours and then on opposite hours, feeding the little boy. By the time I ended the affair with the pump, he was sleeping well and not needing to be fed throughout the night, and I felt lucky...I had so many friends who suffered longer periods with poor sleepers. Little did I know that a couple of years into it, after I'd been lulled into believing that my angel was a wonderful sleeper, his routine shifted. I think it started with a daylight savings switch. Cole started waking up in the 4's (a.m.s!). Sometimes, the 3's. He'd be going to bed at 7 pm so by 4 am he'd have a had a pretty decent sleep...(decidely not!). He'd just be wide awake and because I was not, I'd let him watch something in bed with me so I could doze. This strange habit of waking at odd hours has become a regular thing with the boy. For months each year, he settles into jags of waking up in the 4's and not being able to go back to sleep. Even if he goes to bed a little later, he still wakes up at the same time and somehow manages to make it through his day. During the time he's asleep, he sleeps deeply and peacefully...He's still what I might consider a good sleeper...He's just an extreme riser! I AM NOT!!! My day doesn't end until he's settled into bed and I've cleaned up after the day. Then I crash with Dan and watch TV, or read, or whatever...I try to go to sleep by 11pm, and lately even earlier, but 4 or 5 hours is simply not enough sleep for me...The dear boy also has taken to a new habit, bourne out of him not wanting to be awake alone, where he topples over me as I try to sleep to the hum of Blues Clues or Sid the Science Kid, with a huge dopey smile on his face. Or he stretches his legs out across the bed so that he can kick and nudge me in the belly or butt, whichever way I happen to be turned, until I sit up with him and mindlessly watch his shows...There's simply not a lot to do at 4 in the morning...When I feel spritely (HA!), we read, but it's dark and cold and I am just not ready to get out of bed and start the day...I dream of the day he decides 6 am is a good time to wake...I'll be cheerful and rested and the only reason I won't want to get out of bed is that I'm too busy snuggling my late sleeper! Ah....A girl can dream can't she???