Silver Linings

Sometimes you're leery of making an announcement too early, in case you jinx it. This is one such. But as it's been little over a month, I'm hoping it is safe enough to let the cat out of the bag without undue consequences.

No, I am not pregnant. And no, we did not win the lottery. But this is a priceless prize I am about to share, so it may be just as good, for our little family.

In the light of the bullying debacle (outcome to be announced next week, I hope) that led to Little A's sudden hysterical fear of going to sleep at night, I decided to move him into his own room, with the hopes that he wouldn't associate sleeping in there with anything negative.

He's been sleeping on a mattress on our floor for some time, despite getting his own bed for his fourth birthday. The reason for the room share was partly to defray electricity costs (just one instead of two air conditioners running a night) but mainly because Little A, since birth, was never the longest of sleepers.

Unlike other newborns who clock 3 hour naps and 5 hour nightly sleeps, Little A woke up every 45 minutes to feed as an infant. This blog chronicles our sleep dramas and traumas, among other things.

By the time he was 5, Little A would sleep a 7 or 8 hour stretch, but also log in around two 5 hour nights a week.

When he'd wake up between 3 and 4 pm, he obediently stayed in bed, as he was told getting up before there was light out wasn't allowed - not that he didn't try, in the beginning, to turn on the lights and start playing. But it always took him 2 hours to fall back asleep, and then I would wake him up at 8am to start the day properly.

The unexpected silver lining to the bullying and crying himself to sleep was that he suddenly began sleeping longer night stretches. Combining that with giving up his naps meant he actually got a proper night's sleep.

Apart from maybe 3 times he's woken up before dawn this past month, he's been going to sleep cheerfully at 10pm and waking promptly at 7am or so. He's our little alarm clock, always reliable.

They say things happen for a reason, and that something good may come out of a negative experience. Here, then, is a perfect example.