Getting kids to sleep

I just want to write this down before I forget it. I was reading another blog and one of the people who commented mentioned how hard it was to get his child to sleep and what he had to sing and do to get him to sleep. That reminded me of how hard it was to get our son Evan to sleep. I think he thought he was going to miss something if he ever dozed off. So, he tried to stay awake - all day and all night.

We found the the thing he liked best was for us to sing the tune to The Bunny Hop and do a little jump (actually three little jumps) when we got to the "Hop, hop, hop" part. Usually, by the time we got to this, he was upset and needed to be calmed down AND made ready to sleep. The Bunny Hop usually did the trick. But there were times when I thought I'd never be able to stand that tune again. It went on for up to a half-hour sometimes. But since it was the last resort, we didn't have much else to try.

Unless we decided to give in and go for a ride in the car. We explored every road within a twenty mile radius of our house to get him to drop off to sleep. And then we'd get home and a car would roar past as we were getting him out of the car and into the house and he would wake up again. I'm so glad those days are over. And yet, I miss them somehow.

Our daughter was much easier. A few choruses of Frere Jacques (with varying lines like "Go to sleep" or "Please lay down now" or the ever popular "Heaven help me") and she would sleep most of the night.