Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Luke’s partners in crime

Recently we busted a crime ring. Their hideout was Luke’s bedroom and their illicit activities took place at approximately 8:30 pm each night. Take note of the ringleader:


For the past few weeks, Luke’s ability to sleep through the night had deteriorated drastically. While a full night of zzz’s had previously been the norm, he had begun waking up once an hour or more in an inconsolable state, beginning around 1 am. We tried all sorts of measures and finally targeted his bedtime. The little boy would seem fairly peaceful when we put him in his crib around 8 pm. But then we would hear his happy talking noises until 10 pm or later! Since he was fairly quiet and happy, we didn’t see it as a problem until he started crying around 10, and then he would need a little reassurance before he would finally fall asleep.

Well, eventually it dawned on us that staying up too late in his crib must be making him so overtired that he wasn’t able to settle back to sleep during the night. But we weren’t sure how to encourage him to fall asleep sooner. After all, when we left him we made sure he had his night light on, his shushing machine playing softly, and his favorite blankets and stuffed animals at his side. Wait! The stuffed animals! They must be the main participants in all the animated talking and moving around that we heard from the living room. So Erik decided to try removing them from Luke’s crib.

When he walked in to do so, he found Luke jumping Mr. Chipmunk from wall to wall – a red-handed arrest. Once the animals were removed, Luke has settled down to sleep in just 10 minutes or so and is back to sleeping through the night! Who would have known that such sweet looking toys would be criminal influences on our child? Perhaps that chipmunk does have a suspicious look to him now that we think about it. Daytime activities only from now on for him!

3 comments :

  1. OK, this is *ridiculously* cute!! I love that you have mugshots of prisoner 24601, too! :) And I'm filing this one away for future reference in dealing with toddler sleep... :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. excellent investigative work, Erik! Haven't you guys seen Toy Story? Clearly it's the toys!

    ReplyDelete
  3. P.S. Is that chipmunk aka Jean Valjean?

    ReplyDelete