Sleep To Be Thankful For

Happy Thanksgiving!!! (at least to the U.S. readers)

This week is a good time to find the silver lining and say what we are all thankful for, sleep-wise. I’ll start:

• I am thankful that my once challenging son, who inspired this site and is now 4 years old, can now be walked up to bed, put on his PJ’s, brush his teeth, cuddle in bed for a few minutes and he falls right to sleep. No fuss. No muss. (most of the time) Gone are the days where it took me an hour to put him to bed. Hooray!
• I am thankful that I can put my 21 month down for a nap by proclaiming it is “nap time” and he walks up the stairs, I put him in the crib, say night night and walk out.
• I am thankful that, most nights, my 21 month old wakes briefly, sits up in bed, and lays back down without needing anything.
• I am thankful that I can now check on my son before bed, since he sleeps with the door open and can stare down at him for a few seconds watching him sleep peacefully. I couldn’t do that when he was a baby because he’d wake up when I opened the door, yet he couldn’t sleep through noise, so I couldn’t keep the door open, either. I look forward to when my younger son’s door is open, too.
• I am thankful that I didn’t have to break a pacifier habit or thumb-sucking habit for either boy and, most of the time, they can find their own blankies (occasionally I’m woken up by my older son because he can’t find it and it’s buried in covers or on the floor).
• I am thankful that we figured out that if our sons don’t have a snack before bed that they sometimes wake up earlier in the morning or in the night.
• Mostly, I’m thankful to have two wonderful boys who are the light of my life.
• I am thankful that the fact that my boys are imperfect sleepers has given me this unique opportunity to meet so many parents out there and allow me to help them with their troubled sleepers. It is truly one of the most rewarding things in life I’ve ever done, so far.
• I am thankful that I can do my Black Friday Shopping online this week, so I can sleep a little more on Friday, one of my (very) few days off.

It doesn’t hurt to get some things off our chest, too, so we don’t bottle them up inside. 😀 I am NOT so thankful for:

• I am not so thankful that sleep is still not perfect for my eldest son (who inspired this site).
• I am not so thankful that my son is so sensitive that our imaginative play or something that seems “ok” to see on TV causes nightmares for three nights in a row this weekend (hoping for a good night tonight).
• I am not so thankful that if we think our younger son has eaten enough, but he hasn’t, that he will sometimes take longer to fall asleep or wake in the night (this is finally getting less common as he gets older).
• I am not so thankful that with two boys who aren’t the perfect sleepers that sometimes it still feels like I will never just sleep well every day again and that I’m commonly waiting for that wake-up call, even on “good nights”.
• I am not so thankful that one day my boys will be older and not need mommy anymore and I will probably be sad because now they don’t need me anymore and I will wonder why I worried so much about their sleep, yet I would love not to worry about it and it is so ironic that one day they will be teenagers that I will have to drag out of bed and I’m not so thankful that it all makes me sound so crazy. 😀

What are YOU thankful or not-so-thankful this year, sleep-wise (or not)?

Happy Thanksgiving! Have a very joyous and safe holiday. And, sStay tuned for a BIG announcement in the next week or two!