Lullaby and Goodnight

What is a girl to do?

My 4 year old has decided that going to bed is no longer easy for him. He is no longer tired. He no longer needs more than 8 hours of sleep. Ugh.

E hasn't been helping at all for the past few months. While he was overseas and at Ft Bragg, Big J was a prince when it came to going to bed. We had this great routine. Teeth, potty, book, nightlight, sound machine, prayers and then "goodnight." If he couldn't sleep, he was allowed to go read a book near his nightlight, but no getting out of bed and wandering around to find Mommy or tell her "just one more thing."

Well, E has decided that laying with Big J is a good thing. the issue? E doesn't just lay there. He sleeps. There are some nights that I will go to check on him and Big J will be awake while Daddy is sleeping. WTF?

Big J is a great negotiator. he loves to see if Daddy can "stay with him," or read "one more book."
I have talked with E about this situation ... I know Big J won't be 4 too much longer and some day he won't want us to stay. But if we ever want sanity around here, or time to get chores done or, gasp, "Mommy/Daddy time," our children to need to go to bed at decent hours.

So, last night, little j went down at 7:30. Fine. Big J was in bed at 8:00. He came down at 8:30 while we were watching our DVR'ed episode of 24. We told him to go up. He peed at 9:00. We heard him walking around at 9:30. When we were going to bed at 10:00 he was still wide awake. Ugh.

So ... starting today. No caffeine after 4:00. None. i don't care who is drinking pop he wants to try. I don't care how much chocolate is on display for dessert. No caffeine for you! Also, on weekends, especially Sunday when we know we have to get up for work/school the next day, no nap.

Wish me luck on this one. I need some ALONE time. I need some "I get to watch whatever I want on my TV" time. My children need to sleep better and become the good kids I know, not the cranky ones that have been around lately!