Early Mornings

Zach has been having one big issue lately. Every morning he wakes up early and wants to sleep with one of us. On days off Josh goes in to snuggle with him but on weekdays he moves to Josh's side of our bed. Josh leaves for work at 5:30am but he often doesn't wake until 6:30. No matter the time, it's every morning.

I can't remember when this became a daily thing. Somehow it went from being occasional, like when he's had a very bad dream, to daily. When he was a baby and woke up for that 6am feeding I would bring him into my bed and snuggle but that had ended long ago. We put his Pop tart in his room in the morning when Josh leaves so if he wakes up hungry he has something to eat. He also has water in there too. Some mornings he wakes up to use the bathroom then wants to move to our bed but that's not always the cause of his wake up, and why can't he sleep in his own bed after?

The only way I can think of to end it is to make him get back in his own bed and do a slow transition of I stay with him a little while and after a week or so I don't join him at all. That will just lead to fussing unless I figure out why. He's been saying that he doesn't want Daddy to go to work and that he likes it when it's all of us in the mornings. He does understand that it's important that Daddy work. He says he works at a cheese store just like Daddy.

He has Generalized Anxiety Disorder too. If you were here you'd see how bad he's been about this in person. Even talking to Daddy on the phone doesn't help. He's great at school but even last Friday when Josh and I were on an Anniversary date he wanted to call me. He was with my Parents, who watch him all the time, and just wanted to talk to me. That's never happened before. I talk a lot about GAD and OCD so this is a good time to post links to WebMD which has more information on them.

GAD
http://www.webmd.com/anxiety-panic/tc/generalized-anxiety-disorder-topic-overview

OCD
http://www.webmd.com/anxiety-panic/tc/obsessive-compulsive-disorder-ocd-topic-overview

As you may have just read about GAD, trouble sleeping is a symptom and that is true very much so for me. I wake up at least twice a night. We hear Zach wake up too in the middle of the night but those times he's able to put himself back to sleep even for nightmares (although we go in for a hug after nightmares to calm him). I really need the uninterrupted sleep in the Early Morning but my son needs me. Some mornings it might be due to the 4 year old boy upstairs who wakes up at 6:30 to get ready for school and likes to run around. But that's not always true.

Zach is very articulate for a 3 year old but he can't always put words to the real problem. Earlier this month he complained of a toothache and upon inspection we realized it was a canker soar. When he had the Asthma attach he was complaining of a belly ache. That was from the extra work breathing. He also has been asking that one of us sit next to him in the car. Sometimes we say yes sometimes we don't.

He says he wants to sleep with us, " because there are a lot of pictures of scary monsters on my bottom dresser". We already had the "no monsters" talk but maybe we should try cleaning out that shelf. Of course what is on there has changed a few times this past month so I doubt that's always the case.

Josh's side of the bed is in direct view of our wedding picture if you are on your right side. Both Josh and Zach start off by sleeping on their right side. In Zach's bed they sleep on their left. Maybe Zach just likes that picture and finds it comforting. Maybe we should put a similar picture in his line of vision in his room. It's worth a try. Until them I remain popular.