Sleep is for wimps

And today, I was the wimpiest of them all. I actually took a nap, and not just any nap, I slept for several hours. I think the allergy medicine I took had something to do with that, but it was kind of nice :). Until Little Bitty started running circles on the bed and finally resorted to pulling my hair to wake me up. That's his new thing, pulling my hair. I'm not a fan, as you can imagine.

Since LB got sick with a double ear infection a week and a half ago, his sleep schedule has been very disrupted. He's always had sleep issues, but he'd finally gotten to a point where he was in a good routine, going to bed fairly well as long as we stuck to a consistent bedtime routine, sleeping through the whole night, and waking up in a decent mood. Gone were the horrible bedtime meltdowns, the 3am escapades, and wondering every morning whether it would be Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde that woke up that morning.

Until he got sick, and then all bets were off. He's feeling better now, but it's been a struggle to re-establish his bedtime routine. Yesterday we went into an all-out screaming meltdown when it was bedtime, I finally gave up and brought him downstairs so his brothers could get some rest, only to have him climb into my lap on the couch and fall asleep. Which I don't mind, but could we skip the hour-long hysterics that preceded it? Was it really necessary to kick and try to punch me? Was it really necessary to tear off his pull-up and scream at the top of his lungs (without stopping!) in protest of the unfairness of bedtime? Was it really necessary to try to take the lid off his sippy cup in the hopes that he could spill it because nothing says "I'm angry at the world" like dumping your sippy cup all over the floor? And of course when he couldn't get the lid off, that just made him all the more angry so he settled for throwing it across the room.

Sigh. I feel so bad for his brothers when he does this, I know it bothers them although they are nice about it. Not that they are strangers to this kind of behavior, they were famous for it and then some when they were his age. But still.

Tonight he did better, hopefully he's getting back to a somewhat normal sleep cycle again. Now we just keep our fingers crossed that he sleeps all night and wakes up happy (or at least indifferent).