He's making up for it

Peyton used to be such a good sleeper. He's slept through the night pretty much since he was born. He's always slept soundly and very rarely been disturbed by simple noises around the house, but did you notice how I said he used to be a good sleeper. Lately, he's decided to mix things up and wake up at all hours of the night. No, not just wake up. Wake up crying and screaming his head off. He'll do that for a good solid hour with no breaks if I don't go in to pick him up. He then insists on being held and rocked back to "sleep". Not real sleep. Fake sleep. He tricks me into thinking that he's gone back to sleep, but really he's just been laying there quietly for 15 minutes. He waits until I move to put him back in his crib and then screams no and starts saying mom in a very sad and pathetic way. So, of course, I feel guilty that I'm disappointing him by leaving and I pick him up and start the process all over again. Last night this went on for just over 2 hours. It was so much fun. I really love only getting 5 (sort of) hours of sleep.

I've never been one to put up with crazy sleeping habits. I very rarely gave in like this to my other kids. I would do it once or twice, but if it continued to happen and look like it was going to develop into a bad habit, I would nip it in the bud. I would let them cry it out after that. They would then figure out that the fits weren't going to work. They would go back to sleep and get back into their normal routine. They're none the worse for the wear now. Peyton has been a different story. He's my last baby and I've been trying really hard to hold on to his babyness. I just want him to stay little forever. Plus, he loves Ryan more than me. He would choose him any day of the week over me. I'm not exaggerating. This really gets my goat. So, I think what I'm trying to do is force him to love me just as much as he loves Ryan. The only time he'll really let me hold him and hold still while I'm doing it is during the middle of the night. I think I'm hoping that my snuggling smothering will finally convince him that I'm just as much fun as his dad. It's probably not going to happen. The only thing I'm going to get out of this is sleep deprivation.