Wake-Up Routine Shake Up

There have been some big changes in B's wake-up routine of late that are changing are days. In the mornings, he used to wait for us in bed and alert us he was up by talking or kicking the wall. For the last several days he just gets up, and comes into our room. Until Sunday, this had been preceded by some sort of warning shout or announcement. On Mother's Day, he just came right in unannounced. We told him he needed to warn us so he left his blanket, went back out the door, said "I'm awake" then re-entered. Just too cute!

Next, he has taken to stripping naked right there in our room. He usually follows this with some romping through the pillows time as we start our getting ready for the day. Then we head off for potty time, a new diaper and clothes. He helpfully brings along his old diaper and puts it in the diaper pail for us. It is kind of a odd way to begin the day still, but we're adapting. We're going to need to work on the warning part and maybe remember to lock our doors some days, just in case.

His nap wake-up routine has shifted too. We've always suspected that he laid in his room for some time before falling asleep and again when waking up as his nap time has been so lengthy. In the past, he would let me know he was ready to get up by making noises, kicking the wall, talking and most recently by saying "Mama, I'm awake." Now, he just gets up, brings his blanket and cup to the office and says "Hi"" or some variant. This is happening a bit earlier than his old wake up time and sometimes as early as 3pm. As he goes to sleep at 12:30pm this is really too short for my work day. Therefore, he usually gets about 30 minutes of somewhat assisted pbskids.org time while I finish things up.

It has also motivated me to begin my search for Mothers Day Out programs in earnest as I can see we're going to need that part-time care so I can get through my work hours and he can have some more "fun with kids." All that aside, it is very cute and he is quite chipper. I do love his happy little well-rested face which definitely helps the mornings he arrives a bit early or days when I'm not quite ready to play again. He usually also arrives with some pretty wild hair, which is great humor to start the day or late afternoon.

As much as he can now do new things like come get us, say more complete sentences, take off all his clothes, and put most of them back on. I found myself remembering as we lay on the floor together with his blanket one day last week that despite how much he has matured he really is still very so very young. We're trying to cherish that and be patient knowing he is learning, growing and changing rapidly and needs us to help him through it all even as he grows more independent.