On No Sleep

We aren't that far removed from the infant days of intense sleep deprivation so you'd think plunging back into it wouldn't be a big deal, right?  WRONG.  It stinks!  After basking in weeks, maybe even months, of glorious mostly uninterrupted nights of sleep our luck seems to have temporarily (let's hope) run out.  It is a battle people.  A battle to get her to go to sleep, stay asleep, and sleep in a little in the mornings (is 6 a.m. too much to ask for?). 

Apparently, there is a common 18 month sleep regression that no one bothered to tell us about.  We've literally been scratching our heads for a few weeks now wondering what to do.  Do we stink at this parenting thing?  Why can't we do something as simple as get our child to sleep?  She is just not interested in sleeping.


Example, a few weeks ago she woke up at 3:30 a.m. asking to go outside and look at Christmas lights, and I am not even kidding, she is obsessed with them.  This pleading to go outside coupled with talking and singing of various hits like "Twinkle, Twinkle" and "Jingle Bells" lasted until around 4:30 a.m.  She is also mightily resisting naps and waking earlier and earlier in the mornings.  

As an aside, she did sleep well last night (after a bedtime bedlam with daddy), yet we chose to drag our bottoms out of bed in the middle of the night to check out the lunar eclipse.  What were we thinking? 

So here is my crackpot theory of why this is happening.  After reviewing all the variables it seems we have teething, development of new motor skills like dressing/undressing, MAJOR verbal development, and her realization that she does not have to agree with every decision we make for her.  I also think she is really afraid that she will miss something. 

I keep reassuring myself that this is but a blip on the radar of sleep habits and soon she'll go back to sleeping like an angel.  Right?  RIGHT? 

Here are some snippets of what we've been up to lately:

Practicing with the shirt.

When I asked here what the triangle was she said "circle", and when I asked her what the circle was she said "circle" and when I asked her what the square was she said "circle".  When I finally pointed to the heart she said "heart" and melted mine.

Practicing putting on pants.  Can't really see it here but she had leggings, capris and pj shorts on.  That was soon followed by another pair of shorts, a shirt on the legs, and a shirt on the head.