The 'Little Books' Emergency

It was barely 5:30 this morning. I had just finished nursing Allen who was beginning settle into his rhythmical a-minor slumber on my chest when I heard Ivan stirring in his room.

"Mamma, mamma" he was beginning to call out in his sleep. I stayed still hoping that he would fall back asleep. But a minute later he was in our room.

"Read books, mamma, read books," he whined inconsolably.

Last night, Ivan fell asleep without me and without us reading the "little books." Andy had told him that I would come up to read the books but before that happened he had fallen asleep.
This morning he must have not realized that he had slept through the night but must have thought it was still last night. I couldn't convince him that it was nighttime and to fall back asleep in our bed. He was inconsolable and insisted on reading his little books.

I grabbed the books off my nightstand where they permanently reside as we've been reading the same four little books for months now as part of our bedtime routine. And because we've been reading them night after night, I've also memorized them. Ivan sat up in our bed. In the dark, I flipped through the pages--Dr. Seuss's Left Foot and Wocket in the Pocket, and The Going to Bed Book, which happens to be my favorite baby book--while reciting the words. I fumbled a bit through the Wocket book but it didn't matter. Ivan calmed down and dozed off until 7 or so.

Bedtime Routine
Reading books before falling asleep has finally become a part of our bedtime routine. Andy still give him a bath. Then I come up to the room to take over. Sometimes Andy put his jammies on; other time, I do it. Spending this alone time with him is even more important now that Allen's here. We switch kids. Andy takes Allen, and I stay with Ivan. (The only time Ivan has ever said anything negative about Allen was the other week, when I came up with Allen. "Go away Allen," he said, thinking that Allen would stay up with us.)

Before we settle down to read books, Ivan still sometimes likes to run up and down the hallway, or jump on our bed. He also has a new game where he takes all our pillows and puts them on top of him. "Close the doors," he says, as he puts all pillows on top of him. If any body parts are not covered, I need to put the pillow on him. Then he emerges from under the pillows. I should really take a photo of him among the pillows, as it's really cute. (For the last few months, he's been all about the closing and opening the doors game with all his toys.)

After he calms down, which usually requires me to invoke the counting to three, (where getting to number three is the threat of timeout), we snuggle in our bed and read books. We used to read all sorts of books he'd pick out, but for the last few weeks, we've been exclusively reading the four little books (the fourth book is Dr. Seuss's Hop on Pop). During Christmas time, he really like the "Twas Night Before Christmas, but we no longer read that since Christmas is over.)

After we read the four books, he usually wants to fall asleep in our bed with me by his side. However, on a rare occasion, he gets up, takes Medic and his bottle, and goes to sleep in his bed. Sometimes, he wants me to come with me, other times he doesn't. (The times he doesn't want me/need me to fall asleep with him,, I've actually felt hurt and rejected, like I felt when he stopped nursing. But obviously in the long run needs to learn to fall asleep on his own.)

I've also realized that most of the time I don't need to be with him until he falls asleep; he just wants me there until he settles down.

I think that actually having me with him prolongs him staying awake. He's been fighting sleep lately. He often tells me that he doesn't want to go to bed and that he doesn't want to close his eyes. Ocassionally, he tells me not to close my eyes and not to sleep either. I don't know whether it's because he doesn't want to sleep because he doesn't want to miss out on anything, which is apparently typical three year-old behavior, or whether he's developing fears, which is also possible at this age.

While we regularly brush Ivan's teeth as part of the bedtime routine, he's still been taking his milk bottle (not a bottle with the nipple, but a juice bottle) to bed with him, and drinking it after he brushes his teeth. I still don't like this practice and fear that he'll end up with rotten black teeth, but I've learned to be less anxious about it. At least he drinks his milk while we're reading books, he doesn't nurse the bottle to sleep.

Sleeping in the Big Boy's Bed

In October, we moved Ivan from the crib to the full size bed in his new room, e.g. the spare bedroom, to empty the crib room and prepare it for Allen. (I had qualms about letting a toddler sleep in a big bed like that, but that's another issue.) Since the move, he's wanted to sleep in his crib a few rare times, but he really likes his new bed and his new room. Except for those times when he comes to our bed.

When we moved him to the big bed, the first night he woke up in the middle of the night, he called for me. I found him standing at the entrance of his room hugging Medic. He stood there as if he needed permission to move. I told him to come to our bed. The following night, when he woke up in the middle of the night, he came to our room but just stood there. I had to tell him to climb into the bed. Since then, if he wakes up during the night, he just sprints over to our room, holding Medic and jumps into the bed. I don't even think he's awake while he's doing that.