Gavin slept till 7:00AM

I have many conversations about sleep. One might even say that I'm obsessed with it. On Facebook I wrote: "Anyone who sleeps like a baby doesn't have one", and it got a lot of likes and comments. Those are like the "atta boys" of Facebook.

At our house, we have a system. We eat dinner in the early 6:00's. Bathtime is around 6:30, and the bedtime routine has started. By 7:00PM, both kids are in bed and either in the process of getting thoroughly read to, or they are done with the books.

Aside: Gavin is really into this book about Farms. It has animals, meaning he gets to make all the animal sounds. It has tractors, meaning he gets to go "Vroom". Which he loves doing. He's at the point now where he wants a book over and over. Maybe it's just his desire to stay up longer, maybe it's the fun of reading books. Who knows?

Now, we do this whole "they are in bed by 7:00PM" with the very real understanding that they are out of bed at 6:00AM. But the thing is, even on the nights when they are in bed at 8:00PM, they are up at 6:00AM. Regardless of the time they go to bed, they are up at 6:00AM.

Meaning, the more time we can get at night, the better.

Which brings us to this morning. Last night was gymnastics. Autumn goes every Tuesday, and last night I had a think on Corporate Blogging, so mom took them both. I got home and mom took off for an appointment with a Yoga mat.

I read them both books, put them both down, and looked at the clock. 8:15PM. Then I went downstairs and cleaned up a bit and listened to the monitor. Gavin just played in his crib till at least 8:45PM. He wasn't crying, he was doing that chat to himself thing that little ones who are learning to talk do. It's almost a cooing, but it's more because random words get thrown in.

So you hear: Coo. Coo. Baby. Coo. Coo. More. No, no, no. Lulu! (That's Lucy, the dog, barking at a dog walking past our house, Gavin hears it and yells Lulu.)

So now you understand the reason he slept until 7:00. Which is late for him.

Bonus video: I'm going to end all my posts with a bonus video. Here's Autumn, January 2010.

On sleep

So here's the deal. Last night the wee lad exercised the pipes at 3:00AM. This after a week of not going to sleep in what some people would refer to as "smoothly".

Oh, and Autumn was already in our bed. At 1:00AM, I rolled over to see her staring at me from the floor.

"I'm scared", she whispered, presumably so she didn't wake up mommy.

"Of what?"

"A witch just ate me, spat me out, and might eat me again." She said. "In my dream" she added, helpfully, because maybe I wasn't sure.

And really, who is sure at 1:00AM.

So there we are, with the princess in the bed, when the wee lad Gavin decided to start the mommy chant.

"Muuuuuuoooommmy"

"mommy"

"Mom?"

"Maaaammmmmaaaa"

It sort of goes on like that for a bit. It's not really him crying, it's him yelling for mommy. Unlike Autumn, who takes pains to not wake her up, but wakes me up, Gavin just lets 'er rip.

"Mama. Mommy. Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaammmmmmmmmmmaaaaaaaaaaa!"

We really shouldn't be here. We're not new at this. And yet, somehow, we're back to Gavin being up every night. He's doing this when we put him to bed, and doing it to the point where he cries so much he ends up doing that little toddler coughing fit-thing that is heart breaking.

It sounds like he's choking, which is hard to ignore. So one of us goes in, hugs him to calm him down, and implants the cause and effect of coughing equals hug.

This has been a tough week. And will get tougher since I'm out late tonight.

Facebook images