Just pitiful...

Will stopped sleeping through the night shortly before Anna was born.  He wakes up from 1-5 times during the night (usually 2-3) and then wakes one of us up (usually John) and asks to be tucked back in.  That's all he asks, and it doesn't take long, but it is still a major sleep disruption--especially if it occurs 3+ times in one night.

John is pretty patient with this, but I am not--especially since I've become more the target of the night wakings after John's surgery.  This past week was the worst; John has been on a busy rotation at the hospital and has been especially tired, so the nighttime interruptions have been harder to deal with.

Last night, as I was tucking Will in (and after reading a little "Parent Power" by John Rosemond), I grabbed 3 Sharpie markers (they were handy) and placed them on the dresser in our room.  I told Will that we would take one of the markers away each time he asked to be tucked in after his initial tuck-in.  If he lost all the markers, he couldn't play with his Moon Sand the next day, but if he kept all 3 markers, we'd help him build a very big Moon Sand castle.  (With Will, the actual quality of the prize is secondary to the presentation of the prize, thank goodness.)  I tried a similar exercise months ago and it helped decrease his night wakings, so I thought it was worth trying again.  Will indicated he understood, so I tucked him in for the night.

This morning, John and I woke up to light streaming into the room--it was 7 AM and we had yet to be awakened by either child!!  Figuring the bribe had worked, I walked through the living room to get coffee, but stopped in my tracks when I found Will curled up, fast asleep in a living room chair.

I figured the story behind this would be a good one, so I ran and got John so we could wake Will up together.  John asked Will why he was sleeping in the living room.

"See, I woke up and had to go to the potty.  And I went to the potty all by myself.  I did it all by myself. And I got back in bed but I couldn't get tucked in.  And there was nobody to tuck me in.  And I cried and cried. Nobody tucked me in.  Y'alls weren't waked up yet. So I cried and cried.  And cried. And then I came out here to sleep until y'alls waked up."

"So can we build a castle?  A big, big castle?"

We felt like the meanest parents in the world--and helped Will build a few big castles. :-)

(PS...but if you think I feel badly enough not to strike the same deal tonight, you are wrong...sleep is precious!  We may practice tucking oneself into bed first, however.)