But Mommy, I'm not tired...

From the time that the girls were 6-8 weeks old, they've been good sleepers. Yes, we had our fair share of crazy nights...waking every 2-3 hours to nurse, teething pain wakefulness and those just because nights where we would walk in their room and they must have thought it was 10 o'clock in the morning and time to play.  But once we established some sort of routine that worked for us, the girls were golden. Successful naps in the afternoon and pretty easy bedtime routine with little to no crying when it was time to go to bed at night.

So, now that Sofia is 4 it seems appropriate for her to begin having some sleep issues. We're transitioning out of the afternoon nap for her, but some days (like the one pictured above), she still definitely needs it. She will moan to me that she's not tired and doesn't need to sleep and within 15 minutes she's usually cozied up in either our bed or hers sound asleep. On those days, it seems to us like she wouldn't need to go to bed at her usual time and so we've kept her up a little later only to find that it will be an hour (or two) before she falls asleep. She got a good hour or two in the afternoon, why would she need to go to bed at the same time then?!

While talking to a mommy friend of mine, with my eyes propped open with toothpicks, she suggested a book that helped her establish a routine for her own daughter and has worked like a charm. I'm all about taking suggestions that may have worked for others and so I'm presently engrossed in Marc Weissbluth's Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, because I am all about the 'Happy Child' part. So far I'm loving the ideas he speaks about, stresses the importance of sleep for so many reasons and the study examples he shares give me hope.

I believe that consistency pays off and most of the time, it's worked for us in the past. So, I'm going to stick with a routine that works for Sofia and just hope for the best.

Olivia loves seeing her sister in the morning and after the afternoon nap and sometimes you can really tell that she's missed her. It is the sweetest thing. Obviously in this picture, Sofia was still in the process of waking up.

Ready for Sofia to be up and to play!