Self-Imposed Consequence

Nick was up at 3:30 in the morning, talking and crying. I couldn't figure out any issue that he had except that he seemed wide awake. It took several tries and two hours to get him to sleep again. He had slept for three hours for nap which might be one reason he was wide awake in the middle of the night, but he's been overtired for days and I thought he needed that long nap. Maybe a long nap is enough to sabotage his night sleep at this point.

But he has been harder to put down to bed lately. I'm not sure what to do about it. I thought about taking away a star on his chore chart every time he gets up from his bed. Other consequences are not motivating enough anymore, and letting him cry doesn't seem to work. He either works himself up into a true panic, or it takes hours to get any results. Any ideas?

So this morning I expected him to be crabby and difficult. He actually wasn't quite as bad as I thought he would be, but there were screams and cries. I had a talk with him about his choices, and he said, "I want time-out."

I was surprised, but I carried him to time-out (his pack 'n play). He laid down in there. I left his door open a crack. Five minutes later, he came out in a good mood.

Good choice.

Below are the new front and back face plates for Xander's lunchbox.