Sleep Terrorist Update

Most of my readers are familiar with the daily, exhaustive struggles of living with our little Sleep Terrorist.  For those of you who aren't, he falls asleep between 7:30 and 8 pm.  He often wakes several times throughout the night before popping up, wide awake in the 4 o'clock hour.  I mean Up For The Day at 4:something.  It can be 4:10 or 4:23 or, when he is feeling generous, 4:54. Even on the night of the DST time change, we thought we were guaranteed one "sleep in" as his body slept to Old 4:something, it would be New 5:something and it would be like sleeping in, except on that day he awoke at Old 3:50.   
(And sure, several people think they have the solution.  "Longer naps!"  "Shorter naps!"   "Earlier bedtime!"   "Later bedtime!"    "Weighted blanket!"   "Essential oils"    "Melatonin drops!"   It is amazing how many people feel the need to tell us what the Magical Sleep Bullet is just because something worked for the non-adopted child of a cousin of a neighbor of an imaginary friend.  Sometimes, when a person is going through something, they just need someone to listen, nod emphatically, not preach and say "Damn!  That sucks!"    Know what I'm sayin'?)  

A week ago, Lar was sick/congested so he slept in the guest room and somehow (a finely tuned toddler telepathy I guess) Joseph discovered that (A) there was a vacancy in our bed, and (B) he can climb into bed with me while I am sleeping in the middle of the night and I wouldn't even know until I get accidentally toddler-kicked.  

And while he is cuddly, that wasn't sustainable.  Since then, we have been working with him at bedtime.  We practice "waking up" and checking the Bunny Clock.  We practice "going back to sleep" when Bunny is still sleeping and we talk about waking up Mama and Baba if the Bunny is awake.  (The Bunny is set to wake up at 5 am.)  I said to him "Do not wake up in the middle of the night and climb into bed with Mama.  Okay?"  When I said that, he got very sullen and just hugged me and buried his face in my neck and wouldn't let go.  The next morning he woke up at 4:something but laid in his bed crying quietly, staring at his Bunny like I told him to do!

Eureka!  We had suspected that he understands everything, even though he isn't able to speak much yet.  And sometimes he even wants to please us!

But today, this little bed-headed Sleep Terrorist gave us a delightful surprise.  

He not only slept straight through the night, but he didn't wake up until 5:20!  The little guy received so much positive reinforcement for this miraculous feat.  Maybe it was the new Elmo pjs.  Maybe it was all the fresh air and sunshine after a long winter.  Maybe it was an isolated incident.  (No!  Say it ain't so!)  We are being cautiously optimistic that maybe 5:something could be our new normal.  But I won't get my hopes up either!