Matthew has been such a wonderful sleeping baby all his life. At exactly 8 weeks old, he slept about 9 hours all of the sudden and it just got better from there. He's been a great napper and a great sleep through the nighter. The only times we've really had problems waking in the night and not being able to go back to sleep on his own were when we were somewhere else and sleeping in the same room and could see us there in our bed when he woke up. Then he just wanted to hang out with us.
About a week before his third birthday, Matthew decided there was a bull in his room. Not monsters under his bed, snakes in his closet, not even the boogie man. No, it's a bull that he's afraid of. Now he's seen plenty of bulls in real life living here in Costa Rica. Most festivals and fairs have bullfights and they're aired on TV as well. He's seen them on the truck at the fairs before they enter the ring and he even "plays bull" by putting his index fingers up on his head and runs around "charging" us (mainly Dani). Dani plays it with him too and Matthew LOVES it. Giggles and runs around trying to get away from the bull. He will still play these games during the day but at night, he says there's a bull in his room and I have to leave the light on (no, a nightlight is not good enough) and sit in there for a little while, usually until he falls asleep (just about 10-15 mins). So, ok, the bedtime ritual has changed a little bit, no big deal but he is also waking up at some point in the middle of the night (seems to be mostly at exactly 2:14am) and wanting someone to be in there for him to go back to sleep. Luckily we don't have to put the light on again and really start from scratch, but still not a pleasant thing when he's slept through the night for almost his whole three years minus the first 2 months. Dani has been taking care of the middle of the night wakings for the most part and I'm really grateful for that. Soon enough, in December sometime, I'll be up every couple of hours myself with the new little one:) Dani can usually get the job done quicker because Matthew seems to be more needy and clingy with me. Last night, he didn't wake up but that was the first time almost since this started about 10 days ago. Let's hope Dani doesn't get tired of helping out in the middle of the night!
We are trying to make the switch to toddler bed starting in the next week or so, so let's hope this bull thing passes quickly. Not a good idea to try to change his bed and everything while he's got this other sleep stuff going on. Somehow I have to make him think that what he needs is a new bed to get rid of the bull......hmmmmmm, I might just be on to something here.
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