Sleeping Habits

We have a pretty set routine every night, or at least most nights.  We get home from work and school, make supper, spend some time together, give the kids a bath and get them ready for bed.  Kiddy#2 is usually in bed and fast asleep between 7:30pm and 8pm.  Kiddy#1 goes to bed at 8pm most nights.

However, last night was a different story altogether.  When we got home Kiddy#2 fell asleep.  She slept for about an hour when we finally woke her up, realizing if we let her sleep longer she wouldn't sleep at night.  We gave the girls supper, then left to go to a friend's house to sleep over, and by that time both girls were wide awake and very energetic.

Needless to say it was such a mission getting both of them to go to sleep.  They eventually fell asleep around 10 o'clock last night.  I have hopefully learned my lesson and will not let Kiddy#2 sleep that long in the late afternoon so soon before bedtime.

I came across this interesting article online about children's sleeping habits:  http://www.sleepforkids.org/html/habits.html

The comment in the section "Sleep and Toddlers (1 - 3 years) about 'their need for autonomy' made me smile especially after reading Wikipedia's explanation of this:  "Autonomy^[1] means being able to rule without having to obey some other higher authority."  This is exactly what happened last night.  They were both pushing their boundaries... to the limit!  I could see Kiddy#1 was still very sleepy this morning when I dropped her off at school which is understandable after her going to bed so late.  Luckily they have a nap during the day, but of course there is no such luck for Mommy or Daddy who was kept up as well last night.