The 2 year sleep regression

Life was going great.  I generally got enough sleep.  Bedtime was rarely a stressful occasion.  A quick, easy bedtime is something all parents can cherish.   We've been pretty lucky in that our oldest two were afraid to get out of their beds.  Yes it was annoying when they would call from their beds at 5 am that they were ready to get up, but we were able to fix that.  Fear kept them nestled safely in bed.  Not fear of punishment, but some sort of boogie man conjured up in their imaginations that only grabbed children if they left their beds.  This boogie man was pretty rad in my book.

Robin, sometimes known as Brave Brave Sir Robin, does not fear the bed boogie man.  Rather he delights in setting forth from his bed.  Robin will come downstairs, even an hour past bedtime, and then ask just one "little hug" or a "little kiss".  Sometimes from there he will try to weedle out some snuggling as well.  It's gotten to the point where we are returning him to bed 3,4, 5 times a night.

A new twist is that he sometimes tells us he needs to sleep in the pack n' play (which resides in our closet).  The pack n play is a little small for him at this point.  Letting him sleep in the pack n play was fine until he decided to add climbing out of the pack n play, feeling his way through the pitch black closet, to again visit us.

As many parents know, sleep begets sleep.  Instead of falling asleep at 7 pm, he's been falling asleep closer to 9 pm.  This means he is up at 5 am.  The lack of sleep means he is ready for a nap at 9:30 am and in the meantime, has taken to attacking his poor siblings.  I hear their shrieks and cries for help as Robin unleashes his reign of terror upon them--biting, slapping, pulling hair.

The lack of sleep is allowing Robin to fully engage his terrible twos.  It's turning me into super grumpy mommy.  The other morning Robin came into my room before 5 am.  I'm not sure why, but he was willing to go back to sleep.  I can't sleep if anyone is touching me.  Robin is a very active sleeper and practically did somersaults only to be blocked by my body.  Robin couldn't be bothered to care and alternated between holding me like a teddy bear with his arms around my neck and sleeping with his legs thrown over me.  He might have gotten a little more sleep.  Mama did not.

I don't know if you have ever slept with a wet diaper up against your face, but it is not fun.  The good news is Robin went to bed for the babysitter last night and chose to wake up daddy this morning to change his diaper.

I don't mind a nice morning snuggle around 6:30 am.  It's the predawn that I take issue with.  I had it so easy.  I would lay Robin in bed, sing 3 songs, say good night and leave.  He'd wake around the same time as his siblings.  It was too good to last.  Rallying the energy to re-sleep train is more difficult than I remembered.