Sleeping, or lack thereof

Before you have your first child, everyone talks to you about not getting sleep during the early newborn months. I mean, everyone. The first thing they say after congratulations is something about the lack of sleep coming your way. Usually smiling when they say it. Like a freshman hazing or something.

And yes, it is true your sleep is greatly interrupted those first few months. But it was not communicated to us that this lack of sleep can persistent until they are nearly 5. Jacob still does not sleep well. He struggles to go to sleep, and he easily wakes up during the night. It seems every night this week has resulted in an interrupted night of sleep for us or we have gotten to bed late partially due to Jacob's unwillingness to go down quietly.

Part of the challenge now is that he is at the in-between stage of definitely needing a mid-day nap and giving it up all together. Another part is we have allowed a bad habit to develop of laying down with him to help him go to bed. It was not a problem when he was falling to sleep in 5 or 10 minutes. When it takes an hour, well, that is is a problem. But another part is that Jacob does not sleep well. And, we know several other parents with preschoolers who deal with the same sleep struggles.

I know it will pass, but this stage can't end soon enough. We try to appreciate all aspects of child rearing, even the difficult parts which can be though of sweetly in years to come. However, I can not see this being something I would ever fondly look back on at my son's childhood. Who gets nostalgic over baggy eyes and sleep deprivation?