Kid Amnesiac

I knew it couldn’t last forever. After four years of reliable napping, Simon started to ease out of it shortly after his fourth birthday. First came the every-other or every-third-day nap, followed in short order by the can’t-remember-when-it-happened-last nap. When he still slept at least some of the time, he was happy to lie down in bed, listen to a CD, and give sleep a chance.

Once he went two weeks without sleeping, that changed. We started hearing protests in the car on the way home from school. Things like, “We’re going to watch Artoo and play Candy Land and Sequence and I’m not tired!

Except he is. ALL THE TIME. He’s falling asleep in cars.  He’s much more likely to be crabby in the afternoon. And he’s sporting what Matt and I call “sick Caillou eyes” (from an episode when Caillou had the flu) on a regular basis.

He’s also having night awakenings. Every night—or morning—between 3:00 and 4:00 a.m., we hear muffled groans, followed by robust crying. On a good night, we can calm Simon down, re-tuck him in, and restore sleep within 10 minutes. On a bad night, like Friday, one of us ends up squeezed into his twin-sized bed for the rest of the night.

What to do with a child who’s given up his nap but not the need for extra sleep? An earlier bedtime is the logical starting point, but evenings with family, birthday dinners, and holiday parties make that very difficult. To say nothing of favorite shows, bath-nights, and “one more time” reading a favorite book.

Yesterday we may have stumbled upon a solution. It was the first snow day of the year, and at noon Simon was watching a rerun of How the Grinch Stole Christmas while still wearing his pajamas. Then mommy got on the phone, and a bored and petulant Simon marched upstairs and laid in bed in protest. I followed him up and sat on the edge of the bed, and quickly realized that my “petulant” son was, in fact, snoring.

Two hours later he awoke happy and refreshed. And last night, he slept clear through from 8:20 to 7:20 with nary a peep. If only I knew how to reproduce this likely irreproducible event.