Day and night
So, last night, Ken and I were thumbing through our latest Parents magazine. Now, let me preface by saying that I get this magazine namely for the cute craft ideas and medical info, simply because I feel that most of their parenting advice is a bit liberal.
This time, however, we were surprised. On the cover, an article caught our eye: "Stop your toddler's tantrums....overnight." Basically, it was an article on sleep. I have always been a big advocate of making sure Gardner got enough sleep (I lived off of the advice from this website in particular in his early months), but lately, especially since the time change, I have been a bit lax.
By "lax," I mean letting it slide 45 minutes or so....no big deal, I thought. Evidently I was wrong.
Last night, we put him to bed a full 40 minutes earlier than his normal 8:00 bedtime, and I fully expected him to wake up at dawn. Wrong again. The little guy slept until 8:40 am, and he has been an absolute PEACH all day today. His patience level is higher, his mood is brighter, even his appetite is better.
Funny how we learn things, then we have to go back and re-learn them all over again as each stage throws us for a loop. Some things just remain constant....including the importance we, as parents, need to put on sleep.
(And might I add that I took advantage of this myself, as well, and I got 9 whole hours of slumber in my own bed. I feel glorious.)
Now....the next two nights are full of activities.....so his schedule will probably get out of whack again momentarily....but that will happen. I can always get him right back on schedule come Sunday.
I never thought I'd devote this much brain activity to such seemingly simple concepts before motherhood came along. I have researched this about as much as I did my senior thesis topic six years ago.
This time, however, we were surprised. On the cover, an article caught our eye: "Stop your toddler's tantrums....overnight." Basically, it was an article on sleep. I have always been a big advocate of making sure Gardner got enough sleep (I lived off of the advice from this website in particular in his early months), but lately, especially since the time change, I have been a bit lax.
By "lax," I mean letting it slide 45 minutes or so....no big deal, I thought. Evidently I was wrong.
Last night, we put him to bed a full 40 minutes earlier than his normal 8:00 bedtime, and I fully expected him to wake up at dawn. Wrong again. The little guy slept until 8:40 am, and he has been an absolute PEACH all day today. His patience level is higher, his mood is brighter, even his appetite is better.
Funny how we learn things, then we have to go back and re-learn them all over again as each stage throws us for a loop. Some things just remain constant....including the importance we, as parents, need to put on sleep.
(And might I add that I took advantage of this myself, as well, and I got 9 whole hours of slumber in my own bed. I feel glorious.)
Now....the next two nights are full of activities.....so his schedule will probably get out of whack again momentarily....but that will happen. I can always get him right back on schedule come Sunday.
I never thought I'd devote this much brain activity to such seemingly simple concepts before motherhood came along. I have researched this about as much as I did my senior thesis topic six years ago.
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