sweet sweet sleep...

for the majority of ian's life, he's been a very good sleeper. his first four months were spent sleeping between mom and dad (for the ease of feeding), and the next couple months were consistently through-the-night and in-the-crib. during the three months we lived with k's sister, the sleep cycle was interrupted (because we were sharing a room). but once he had his own room in our new house he's been a very good sleeper. in fact, he's been my alarm clock - waking up between 6:30 and 7:00 with incredible consistency...

until recently, that is. when k moved out and got her own place, she decided not to invest in a crib and instead used the pack-n-play. but at some point in the last few months, ian discovered he could climb out of the pack-n-play and would stand at his door, crying to go to mommy's bed. in all the time he was doing this for mom, though, he hasn't once tried to climb out of his crib at my house. and until recently, he's continued to sleep consistently for me...

but in the last few weeks, he's been waking regularly in the middle of the night. he'll wake up and stand up in his crib with his favorite blanket in hand and call out for daddy. and because he knows i will come, he calls for me until i get there. he's a very persistent little boy...

every time it's the same thing. i walk in, and i ask him if he's okay. rarely are there tears - instead he answers with "i want daddy's bed." i try to reason, he refuses reason. so i cave and tell him he can come to daddy's bed if he'll just go to sleep. because if he's not sleeping, he's pushing me around with his feet. and that means neither of us is sleeping. and i enjoy my sleep...

about a week ago (after ian had, on progressive nights, gotten me up at 3:00 and then 2:00 and then 1:00), k and i joined forces and decided to go the bribery route. ian - if you sleep through the night in your bed we can go eat breakfast at the place with balloons. ian - if you stay in your bed until it's light outside we can go to a restaurant tomorrow night...

the good news is that it has worked. he's made it through the night all week, and he happens to be a cheap date. and he's very proud of himself in the morning when he does make it through (he told k last week "i just shut my eyes!" with a big smile on his face, and pulled open the blinds thursday morning to show me that he slept until the sun came out). i'm just hoping that sleeping in his own bed doesn't permanently equate to getting something in return. because i really don't want to have to promise a 15-year old ian an x-box or something if he'll only sleep in his own bed...