I know a lot of kids sleep 11-12 hours over night, but my kids were always more like 10 - 10.5. So if we wanted a 6 am wakeup, we had to put them to bed at 8. We always heard and tried the whole "put them to bed earlier and they sleep longer" thing, but all that ever did was give us an earlier wakeup.

A typical schedule at this age is the "2-3-4" schedule, where kids are awake for 2 hours after initial wake up, 3 hours between naps, and then 4 hours before bedtime. But my kids never slept 15 hours or whatever that works out to, so for us it was more like 3-3-4

One thing I noticed in your schedule is that your DS is going 5 hours in the morning before the first nap. What if you tried to move that nap up to 9? And then the second nap around 1? Maybe he'll do longer naps and then will be able to last a little longer in the evening for a later bed time.

OP back again. I can see your point re: piecing info together if you're giving identifying information. I guess I'll just log out in those cases. I'm going to see how this goes for a few days though.

Why haven't you signed up for an account?

I have been on this site on and off (mostly on, if I'm being honest) since my son was born 5 years ago. I finally got sick of trying to remember which threads to keep track of and registered today.

It seems like almost no one has a registered account in the forums I visit. Curious as to why more people don't do it. I mean, it's still anonymous right?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did not at that age. We started eating together when DC was 5.

I always disliked the "eat as a family" emphasis. Neither the timing nor the menu worked for us. It's not like you can never start, later, when it does make sense.

Can you explain what you mean by the menu didn't work?

DP. I don’t believe in forcing kids to eat foods they don’t like or threatening they will go hungry.

This doesn't make any sense. There's a big spectrum between threatening they will go hungry and sitting down together to eat a meal.

Exactly. I've found Ellyn Satter's books to have really good advice on eating meals together as a family, taking tastes into consideration without catering to a toddler's every whim. Mealtime became a lot more enjoyable for our family after I started adopting her philosophies.

I try to think about the big picture and the little picture.

"Big picture" meaning, across the course of human history, there has been a lot of suffering, and humanity has always found a way to forge ahead. I find a lot of solace in that.

"Little picture" meaning, just focusing on getting through the day by paying attention to the tasks at hand.

I try to get exercise. I try to get sleep.

It's still hard but that is what helps.

I mostly agree, except I love the Pete's pizza that has the thinly fried eggplant slices on top. Delicious.

Constant uptalk. Just say it and mean it!