Sleep Begets Sleep

I guardedly say that we are headed in the right direction. I decided to get serious with the sleep begets sleep idea. I put Harold to bed 45 minutes earlier than usual and... miracle of miracles... he slept about thirty 30 minutes later in the morning. I did the same thing last night and it happened again. So, we'll see if it stays this way. Of course, 5:00 is still too early but at least it's later.

Hurray

This morning, Harold called for me at 4:09. The first thought in my mind was "are you kidding me?" So, I went in to his room and without saying a word, I checked to see if his diaper had leaked. It hadn't. I laid him back down in the bed and walked out. He screamed and cried. Five minutes later I went back in and, from the door, told him it was still night time, the moon was still up, and to go back to sleep. He cried for another 2 minutes or so and then stopped and was quiet until 5:30. Yes, this is still early but MUCH more acceptable.

on the bright side

Harold is still waking at 4:30. My latest tactic is to drop the morning nursing session. He usually nurses as soon as he wakes up, so I'm hoping that if he does not have that to wake up to, he might just stay in his cozy bed.
I've tried a later bedtime, earlier bedtime, shorter nap, longer nap, and all combinations of these. I thought it would be a short phase but we are going on more than a month now, so I am ready for a longer night's sleep.
On the bright side, I can get a lot accomplished when my day starts at 4:30. This is particularly key since we are buried in boxes from our shipment of our household goods. I dream that one day before 2010 our house will be free of boxes and clutter.