The other night as I was putting my son to bed he wanted to take the strangest items to bed with him — magnets. He’s formed a new friendship with these old, colored button-shaped magnets that have been on our refrigerator since before he was born.

The first night I almost (read, ALMOST) let him take them to bed. I didn’t want to deal with taking something away from him right before bed, causing a tantrum which could result in me loosing my evening “free time,” or worse, sleep. But, I thought twice about it (actually, my husband thought for me, but I am sure I would have had this same second thought if he hadn’t been home) and realized that it could be horrible if he swallowed them. Especially if he swallowed two of them. So, we took them from him and he went to bed.

Last night I didn’t have to think twice. I knew immediately to take them away, but that is soooo much easier to say than to do. It was like not letting him take his stuffed teddy to bed. I made him put the magnet (earlier, I had sneakingly, narrowed the group of magnets down to one, kitty-shaped magnet) and asked him to leave it on the dresser. Then, I put him in bed and left the room.

Crying begins.

Crying continues as I jump on the computer and write an email to a friend.

Cut the email short because he’s still crying; back into the room I go.

He’s standing up, pointing to the dresser. I get him out of the crib, discretely steal the kitty-shaped magnet and take him out of the room. He quickly became more interested in what was going on in the living room that he forgot about the magnet. After about 10 minutes he went back to bed — this time with three extra stuffed animals. And, THAT I don’t have to think twice about!

I’ve written about getting kids to go to sleep — and sleep through the night, but what about the parents? I have no problem getting to sleep, but it seems I’m finding it hard to get a solid nights’ rest. I think we finally got my son back on track (I’ll have to write a separate post about how I did that), but now there are other things waking me up at night.

Sometimes it’s one of our pets — the cats are in the way on the bed, the dog needs to go outside, or it’s the neighbor’s dogs who are barking at something.

When I was working full-time I’d wake up in the middle of the night worrying about a project I was working on or a presentation I had to give. Sometimes it was stress waking me up, other times it was the excitement of the project. I do some of my best thinking at night.

I’ve learned to keep a notebook and pen on my nightstand for those middle of the night ideas. I wake up in the morning with something barely legible next to me, then I recall my great idea. The times I thought I would remember it on my own, I never did. Not only does writing it down help me remember, but it gets the idea out of my head so I can go back to sleep. I just wish that worked with the other distractions that keep me awake.

Yesterday I was so proud to offer advice for parents who are having a hard time getting their child to sleep. My son had gotten back on schedule … until last night. I guess I spoke too soon. Today I will, once again, be heading the advice which I wrote about yesterday, hoping to get us all back on schedule.

For those of you with babies, be sure to read the advice from Sarah, a reader who commented on my post from yesterday. She mentions on her blog that parents need to be sure to get rest too. Thanks for the reminder Sarah.

As I’ve mentioned in earlier posts, I’ve been doing some research trying to find an answer, the answer, any answer at all, to break the seemingly new habit my son has of crying (um, screaming) when he’s in his crib. In looking online I found several message boards where parents have posted questions similar to mine in hopes of getting their child to sleep in his bed or crib.

We finally broke the bad sleep cycle with our son, after about three days of sticking to our routine. That, and I bought a musical, light box for his crib which he fell in love with. We opened it together as we were getting ready to go to bed and he was excited about a new toy. I told him he couldn’t use it until he went to bed. After hooking it up to his crib, we did our bedtime routine (brush teeth, read book, etc.) and then I put him in his crib and taught him how to turn on the lights and music by pushing the buttons. I said goodnight and left the room. He played with it the new toy for at least 45 minutes the first night, but he never cried. Finally, he fell asleep and we haven’t had any more sleep problems.

If you have a good sleeper, thank your stars! If you are in need of help, try some of the resources listed below.

Resources for Getting Your Toddler to Sleep:

• Baby Center Message Board:
  My toddler suddenly refuses to fall asleep on her own.
• Help My Baby Sleep:
  Help my baby sleep and us keep our sanity.
• Yahoo Answers:
  Please Help, my 18 month old won’t sleep in crib.
• A common recommendation I found was to buy the book, “Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby.” I tried to get it from my local library, but it was already checked out, no doubt by a desperate parent. I opted for a book on the shelf, “Good Night, Sleep Tight.” All of the advice, from “the Sleep Lady,” is broken down by age of your child. I found it to be helpful in getting our son back on schedule.
• An important element in your quest is to know how much sleep your child needs for his age. Many books on child sleeping will tell you, but I like the chart on BabyCenter.com — it graphically displays how much sleep kids need.

  UPDATE: Read the full resource list in my sleep archive page.

Earlier today I wrote a post about my son having a hard time readjusting to our routine after a trip — especially at bedtime. Tonight was more of the same, crying in the crib and not falling asleep. After awhile we took him out to help him calm down. We watched TV again tonight, and again I didn’t like doing that, but didn’t know what else to do.

In the end, he calmed down to the point where I was able to put him back to bed without tears, or even whimpering. He laid down like he normally does and fell asleep like the child I knew before our trip. I think this should get easier each night until he is back on schedule. At least that is what I’m hoping for.