The void ...

What will I write about each night now that I have declared Extreme Potty Training a success?? Tonight's topic? Sleep. Or lack of it. Sam used to be a great sleeper. He wanted to go to bed, he would happily snuggle into his crib with his pig and his blanket, and he would be out for the night. Not anymore. For the past several weeks, he screams when we put him to bed. Then, he wakes up again at some point during the night and ends up in Baby Exile (aka the Pack 'N Play) in the dining room for the rest of the night, and is up for the day around 5am. He is grumpy, irritable, and clearly exhausted, but will.not.sleep. It is making me crazy -- because if he isn't sleeping, I'm not sleeping. This began before potty training started, so I don't think the two are related. We are busy every day, and I try to let them play outside for several hours to tire them out. We have a consistent bedtime routine that we follow each night, and bedtime is always at the same approximate time (between 7:30 and 8). I can feel the stress level rising in me as he continues to scream, or refuses to go to bed -- and some nights, I feel like I'm going to scream myself. I am so frustrated with this whole process -- by the time their bedtime rolls around, I am exhausted, I have stuff to do to clean up from the day or prepare for the next day, plus I have to write cover letters, send out job stuff, etc. With his continued screaming and having to deal with his drama, the little bit of time I have to myself at the end of the day has totally vanished.

I have sleep issues (restless leg syndrome that was cured by pregnancy and hasn't returned, thankfully!), and started sleep walking when I was a toddler. My mom used to block the doors in the house at bedtime because she was afraid I would wander off during the night. I sleep-talk, too (which can be interesting ... unfiltered disclosures!), and I am wondering if Sam is suffering from some sort of sleep disorder, like insomnia.

My brother was a horrible sleeper when he was a toddler. There is a family story that has become urban legend by this point. My brother was 2, I was a small infant, and my brother refused to go to sleep. My poor mom, exhausted from dealing with a newborn and a defiant toddler, got so frustrated that she put him outside on the porch so she could give herself a breather for a few seconds. Well, my brother decided to take off for Grandma's house (which was across the street) -- and had my mom chasing him down the driveway of the house at 2am, with him screaming for Grandma, and my mom screaming for him. I always laughed about that story before -- but now I can see what drove her to stick her toddler outside for a minute!