A Sleep Dilemma

I don't typically use this blog to complain about Daniel's sleep habits because, basically, they are tremendous. He talks himself awake in the morning (I haven't awoken to the sound of a crying baby since he was about 5 months old) and doesn't usually see my face before 8:45 am. His naps are heaven, lasting about 3 hours on average. I have no plans to change his schedule anytime soon because it works so well for him and for me. We have our little daily routine, which is predictable and dependable. Daniel is certainly thriving with structure.

Because his sleep patterns are usually so consistent, I'm baffled by the past couple of days. It all started when I began sleeping in the same room as him (the house was full; it was either that or the sofa). He would begin talking around 7:30. I'd lay still as a statue, hoping he wouldn't notice me to the side of his crib. I'm still not sure if he realized I was there, but he sure didn't stop talking. After running through his entire vocabulary, Daniel began making progressively louder animal noises. Finally, I gave in. I rolled over, said hi, and pulled him into bed with me. I tried to get him to cuddle with me under the covers, but he wanted no part of it. I stalled him by turning on early-morning cartoons, but eventually he was bored. He proclaimed, "Mom-mom," climbed off the bed, and let himself out the bedroom door.

The next morning, he started talking at 7:00. We hypothesized that he could "sense" me in the room, and was waking up earlier to get my attention. Baloney. Once Daniel moved back into his own room, it only got worse. I woke to the sound of his voice at 6:45 this morning. Though I was able to pull the covers over my head and turn away from the wall, I couldn't fall back asleep. I was too busy praying that Daniel would go back to sleep. There would be a 5-minute period of silence and I would think to myself, "Thank goodness! Maybe he'll sleep until 9." Then I'd hear, "Hot! Hot! Hot! I dunnooooo..." from the other side of the wall. All was tolerable until he started knocking on the wall through the slats of his crib. I was resigned to the fact that neither one of us was going back to sleep.

His afternoon naps have remained long and peaceful, so I suppose he's getting the amount of sleep he requires. I just don't understand why a child who normally doesn't make a peep before 8:15 am is suddenly rising with the sun. I probably shouldn't complain. I know mothers whose children wake them much earlier in the morning, and whose naps are not nearly as long as Daniel's. But when you grow accustomed to a pattern, it becomes even more of a shock to your system when that pattern is dumped so abruptly on its head!