The Early Bird Catches the Worm...and Makes Parents Very Tired!

E has always been an early riser. I don't think he's slept past 7:30 a day in his life, but lately his wake up times have gotten to be ridiculous. Ever since we've been back from Florida, he has has been coming into our room once during the night around 2 am and then again at 5:30 or 6:00 wide awake and ready to start the day. Unfortunately for Ry, his side of the bed is closest to the door so he's the one getting the wake up calls and when he's out of town then I'm the lucky one. It doesn't matter what time his bedtime is at whether it's 7, 8, 9, 10, or 11...he's always up around 5:30! What in the world?! So I've been racking my brain of ideas to help alleviate our early wake up calls. I finally came up with a plan this weekend. I went out and bought one of those electronics timers that turns on your Christmas lights or any kind of electronic device at a certain time. Then I picked up a fun nightlight that he'd like. So we told E that when the nightlight was off then it was "sleepy time" and he had to stay in his room. His special light would turn on when it was time to wake up and he wasn't to come into our room until his special light turned on. So Saturday morning was the first test to see if it would work and it totally did and it's been working every morning since! I think he's still waking up that early in the morning, but he just stays in his room and hangs out until his light turns on (at 7). It's working for now, I'm just wondering what will happen when the baby comes. My guess is that I won't be getting much sleep for awhile.