Bedtime for Bonzos

Hal decided on January 4 that bedtime was 8:30.  He had a few really rough nights after we returned from our Christmas travels.  He didn't want to sleep in the bassinet, didn't want to sleep with us, didn't want to rock, and our usual tricks weren't working, so we plunked him in his crib and waited to see what would happen.  He fidgeted and squeaked a for a few minutes and fell asleep at 8:30.   Plus he slept straight through the night -- happy birthday to Daddy!  

Since then, he has been ruthlessly consistent.  It doesn't matter if he's dripping exhaustion at 7:30 or bouncing awake at 8:25.  Bedtime is 8:30.  Sometimes he chews on his fingers and chats with his friends on the mobile for a little while after I put him down, but he's pretty much always happy for me to leave him at 8:30 and falls asleep soon after.  Our usual routine is: bath, nurse, rock and sing, then down to sleep.

We really put the bedtime routine to the test this weekend.  On Friday night we had friends Emily, John, and baby Lily over for dinner, so we skipped the bath.  Hal seemed tired at 7:30 so I tried to put him down.  Wrong, Mommy.  I rescued him and he sat up with us for another hour.  He went down, never mind the lack of a bath, at 8:30 and slept right through our not-so-quiet game of Settlers of Catan.

Saturday we went to Jamie and Karen's house for dinner.  We skipped the bath again but did the rest of the normal bedtime routine at their house and he was sleeping soundly in their guest room by 8:35.  He even tolerated being transferred from the bed to the bucket and then from the car to his crib.

Today the law school friends came over for brunch.  The adoring attention of five ladies was a little too exciting and Hal did not nap all morning.  As a result, he was melting-down tired at 3pm and napped until 6:45.  I thought there was no way he'd be tired by bedtime, but I put him down at the normal time.  He chewed on his hands for a bit and is now sleeping soundly.  What a guy.

The Bonzo