a late, good night

Last night's stalling tactic worked.  Although, it wasn't actually a tactic, but it had the same result:  extended bedtime. 

For maybe a year now, Elias fights falling asleep, and over the last couple months that's incompassed naptime, too.  I'm a firm believer of the importance of sleep on biological grounds, especially for little kids.  He knows he needs it too:  most of the time that he refuses to sleep, he'll keep himself awake by repeating "I'm sooooo tired!" over and over, and when he finally does, it's for the long haul (generally 3 hr naps on weekends!)  His stalling tactics are predictable:  he needs to read another book; have more milk; go potty again; sleep with that favorite toy (lost--but he can go find it!); tuck me in; call Nanna and Pappa; get more food because suddenly he's sooo hungry...and on and on.  It's been a struggle to get him to sleep by 9pm, but lately I've been shooting for 8:15--and, actually, it's been easier because he comes home from his new school just flat-out exhausted (partially because he won't nap there).

I digress.  He was going to bed really easily last night, so I was multitasking during the long buildup (changing into PJs, brushing teeth, etc.)  When I popped back in to crack the whip--so I thought--there was Elias, already in bed with his giant preschool workbook (which I haven't been able to get him to do), calmly, steadily working his way through tracing out all the letters of the alphabet!  I was tickled pink.  Although he's been writing his name since last fall, he's since taken a strong dislike to writing or coloring.  I've tried various ways to coach him, but he'll have none of it.  Since he's so keen on reading and math I don't push it.  But here he was, doing it on his own, and doing an amazingly good job at it, also.  He got excited that I was so pleased, and insisted on tracing out each letter 4 times (like the workbook says), all the way to Z.  I honestly gushed over his efforts, and he ate it up, even coaching me how he best liked me to respond ("say 'yeah!' Mommy!" or "clap now, Mommy!")  Consequently, he didn't get to sleep until about 9, again.  I thought that this well worth staying up for.

I credit his new school for this, too, at least in part.  The last place seemed to be squelching his natural zest for "academic" subjects and was usually presenting things 8-12 months behind where he was.  I had noticed he wasn't as enthusiastic at learning anymore, falling back from his crazy-sponge-has-anyone-ever-seen-a-kid-so-smart era to something that seemed more, well, "normal" for kids his age.  Confident at his still strong independent progress, my hopes for his present schooling were centered entirely on help with social skills.  What a grand bonus that Lighthouse Christian appears to be helping him with "school" stuff, too!  Whether it's their cirriculum, simply the positive environment, or both, I'd better gear up again to be pulled along by his re-emerging genius.