the sleep experiment

observation

the past month we have been suffering through nights of "but i don't want to go to sleep". since he's in his big boy bed you can imagine the dilemma (he's been in this bed without a problem since april, so i'm not sure what the problem is). he stalls for as long as possible with the following requests (typically in this order as well): one more book, i need water, i need to go pee pee, i need a different blanket or pillow.

questions

a. what are we going to do?
b. do we turn the handle around and lock him in his room? (steve feels really strongly that we shouldn't do this)
c. should we take him for a drive?
d. do we yell and guard the door?
e. do we let him stay up until he is exhausted?

hypothesis

i'm not sure, i just know that something needs to change so that we aren't "going to bed" for an hour to an hour and a half each night

experiment and results

a. doing nothing is not an option; also in this category is sleeping with us and rocking until asleep

b. don't want to try (i did turn the handle). have held the handle, but he gets really sad and thinks the door is stuck. then when we open it, he is relieved and thinking of steve as the hero. maybe we don't leave him long enough?

c. taking him for a drive has been successful. after he's in his jammies, his teeth are brushed, we've read our stories and said our prayers we load him in the car. fifteen to twenty minutes later, he's asleep and we transfer him to his bed.

d.  yelling and guarding the door is exhausting and we (more so, steve) end up rocking him to sleep. the entire process can usually take two hours. 

e. letting him stay up does work. it goes against my better judgment however and is not a feasible option as i am tired and ready to go to bed myself.

 

conclusion

I've put the front of the crib back on; everything is well once again. As I was doing this, Aidan says "Yay, you're fixing my crib!".