Time Change

We have had a long month during which at least one person in this house has been sick.  Anyone else?  On top of that, Miss.SingSong has a tooth coming in, and she's decided that she has to be right where I am at all times.  Is this what toddlerhood is all about?  As long as she continues to sleep 13 hours each night and I'm getting my sleep I've been able to keep my humor about it...  Surely nothing will change that.  Right?



The good news is that switching Miss.SingSong's schedule when the clocks changed was easy.  We had been slowly moving her schedule back a few minutes each day, and had completed 40 minutes of this change.  But the weekend of the time change she was sick and slept as much as her first few weeks home for three days.  When she felt better, we just put her on the schedule that we wanted.

I'm already thinking about the next time we'll have to make this transition.  I've always felt that Miss.SingSong has a 23-hour day, and that it's always easier to put her down earlier, so I'm a little less worried about losing an hour.  I think I will still have to do it gradually, though, as she continues to get older and wants to play more than she wants to sleep.  So I'll plan to adjust her schedule by five or ten minutes each day, starting a week before the time change.

When it comes to sleep schedules I've noticed that Miss.SingSong is more cooperative and has an easier time when I'm diligent and strict with the meal schedule.  Pushing those forward by the same amount each day will be important in helping her adjust.

The only really annoying thing about this method is that Mr. Perfect's schedule doesn't change so gradually over a couple of weeks, nor do the weekly activities around town.  The
week before the last time change I had pushed her nap back far enough that we couldn't attend any of our three regularly scheduled group activities for the week.  But it's one or two weeks, and we were all getting the sleep we need.

As Elder Holland has said, "Fatigue is the common enemy of us all."  These are words that I live by with devotion!  Miss.SingSong is a happier baby if she gets the sleep she needs, and I am a much happier mama if I can get my sleep, too!  And there is no way I'm going to survive homeschooling year after year after year if we don't have good sleep patterns in our house.