On Friday, Niko woke up at 4:30 am, and when that happens, I am up with him. It’s always been that way for Nina and I, and even though I don’t want to be awake, I get up and take care of him. It’s much easier for me to go back to sleep than Nina and that is why I do it. Most of the time, Niko can go back to sleep, but sometimes when it’s late like 4:30 or 5:30 am, he can’t. And, when that happens, we try for early bed that evening.
Well, Friday night, we aimed for a 6 pm bedtime, and it was an absolute epic FAIL! He was tired, but kept complaining about everything with the most popular, being I am not tired. I kept telling him, that this is what happens when you are tired and you can’t relax, and thus this makes it even harder for you to go to sleep. I tried helping him, but I couldn’t just snap my magic dad fingers and say go to sleep. If I had that power, I would be in high demand and can charge people an exorbitant amount for my services. I also told Niko that eventually, you will fall asleep and we can’t be up all night! We did a take a few breaks to see Nina (her back has been hurting, so I have been doing a lot of the parenting duties for the past week and that includes sitting with Niko in his bedroom until he falls asleep).
On one of our quick trips downstairs around 8:30 pm, he was scarfing down grape after grape after grape after grape! Bingo…I think that was the issue as he was hungry. While he was graping, I ate a leftover chicken fajita taco as I was hungry also, and knew that as soon he goes to sleep, I am going to sleep! Afterwards, he finally was able to relax and fell asleep and I snuck out of his room at 9 pm.
He woke up on Saturday morning at 5:30 am, which is better than 4:30! I wasn’t planning on going out in the world, but he wanted to. The place we had wanted to go was La Cantera, the upscale shopping mall near us. But, on that side of the highway, traffic was backed up and the highway was closed for construction, so I made the dad decision to abort and do something else. That something else ended up being us going to Smoothie King (Niko actually guided me with the GPS), we got a burger and fries and rings (and a turkey burger and sweet potato fries for Nina to go) at a nearby restaurant, and after we walked the showroom floor at the La Z Boy store next door.
On Saturday night, I aimed for his bedtime at 6:30 pm, and at that time, he was tucked in and ready for sleep and all was good. I was just about to start reading my book while I waited for him to sleep, but he kicked me out! I was hesitant to obey as I know it may not work, but I obliged. I did my downstairs chores of scooping cat litter, cleaning up the kitchen, and ate a quick dinner. I then went back upstairs and read my book in bed and kept waiting for him to open his door and ask for me. I also kept listening outside his door to see if I can hear anything. I didn’t want to open the door, because if he was indeed sleeping, I didn’t want to startle him awake. I assumed he was sleeping, and he did tell me this morning that he fell asleep a few minutes after I left. Yes, he did wake up twice for a quick pee (once at 9 pm and the other at 12:45), and when he woke up this morning, it was 7:15 am!
That 9 pm wake up, I had just shut my eyes and the cat was in a comfy place on my bed, when I heard him scream DAD! My room is next to his, so it’s less than 5 steps for me, but I did answer, I am coming. Nina also heard it from the master bedroom (and she had just turned her lights off), and came running slowly (remember, her back is hurting). Most of the time, he has no recollection of these wake ups, as he is probably still dreaming. But, we got him to pee, I got him a drink, and we both tucked him back in for sleeping.
Oh, even though I was tired, I did a get an hour nap during my lunch break on Friday and yesterday after we got home. That one yesterday, as soon as I went to my room, Niko wanted alone time in his room. And when I woke up, he also came out of his room!
