Sleep Issues

Lissa has always been a light sleeper.  But lately, she has been sleeping--or NOT sleeping--- more than ever.  She will waken about 3 a.m. and be awake for an hour or more.  Doze off and then waken again at 5.  Some nights she wakes at 2, messes around for an hour and sleeps the rest of the night through.  But she is not particularly quiet when she wakes up.  She is warm and covered.  She is not crying. But she is noisy as all get out.

I have had a really hard time getting to the root of this.  I have gently asked about bad dreams, or feeling sick or having to go to the bathroom.  She is so heavily into magical thinking that the only answer I get is that her stuffed animals are making all the noise, not her.  Or that there was a big noise outside and that woke her.  In some cases this could be true because there has been a lot of late night trucking away of snow due to the size of the drifts.

I have not put beads in her hair lately, thinking that I don't want to do anything that could rattle and waken her from sleep.  Her bedtime routine is always the same.  But the problem persists. And she is loud enough that she wakens KC not just me. So a nasty cycle of 2 cranky kids has evolved over the past several weeks.  Truly, it isn't pretty, people.

Finally last night I suggested that she come into my bed if she wakes up. I just have this niggling feeling that she is afraid about something and isn't verbalizing it.  And oh goddess do I want to have a decent nights sleep! LOL  At any rate, she came in so quietly that I barely heard her. She slept soundly in my bed till 6:15 which for my kids is roughly equivalent to sleeping till noon!  So apparently I am destined to co-sleep forever, but truthfully if I get a full nights sleep I am inclined to think it is worth it!