5:00 AM

I keep thinking of the song "It's 3AM, I must be lonely". Not that it has anything to do with this post, I just can't get it out of my head...


Tyler was up at 5 again this morning. Too early. Every time he wakes up at this time, I bring him to bed with us and try to get him to go back to sleep. It doesn't work. He starts kicking and poking and then eventually, he says, 'milk'. When that word is uttered, we know he's not going to go back to sleep. Miles usually gets up with him, brings him downstairs and gets him his milk.


When it was nice out, they'd sit on the deck and read books. Now that it's quite chilly in the mornings, they sit on the couch and read or play with Thomas or just chat. Usually Tyler gets upset about something. Like getting his diaper changed, or he wants mommy's keys, or he just feels a little grouchy. He is a very loud cryer. I usually don't get back to sleep, but try to at least relax until Amber or Cory get up. Amber is usually next. Cory is our late sleeper. He usually won't wake until 6:30 or 7.


Now that I'm back to work, our routine has changed a little in the morning. Miles sets his alarm for 5AM and gets in the shower, hoping to get ready before Tyler wakes up. If he wakes up, I'll bring him in our room until Miles is ready and he'll take him downstairs while I get ready.

Our Doctor's suggestion is to get a face clock and tell Tyler that he can't get us up until the hands point straight up and down. I don't see that working. First, it's dark in the morning and unless we get one with a light, there's no way he could see it. Also, not sure trying to rationalize with a 2 year old will be that effective. Others have said we could just let him cry and leave him there till 6. Fine if we want to deal with 3 cranky children. I suppose it wouldn't last long, but I don't think that's going to put him on a later routine either. I'm more inclined to try the crying it out method if it gets to the point where he's getting up that early every morning. That seemed to work for him when he was still waking in the middle of the night.

It's not really too bad getting up that early. After a while, you really do get used to it. A friend of ours said her son got up at 5 until he was about 6 years old. She still gets up that early because she got so used to it. I could use that hour to get a workout in!

For now, I just go to bed before 9 every night and enjoy the time in the mornings with him. Time flies by so fast he'll be 6 before we know it.