Bedtime

Christopher does a great job waking up in the morning. On days without tutoring it is 7:15 a.m. He takes a shower, brushes teeth, does the hair, gets dressed, eats breakfast and does a devotion all in time for us to get out the door by 7:55 a.m. Tutoring days, he gets up at 7 a.m. so we can leave at 7:35 a.m. Most days are easy. It's just the occasional clothes drama that sets us back.

Bedtime is another story. I go to bed by at least 10 p.m. each night -- most nights I'm knocked out by 9:30 p.m. We try for Christopher to get to bed by 8:45 p.m., but more often than not it is 9 p.m. That's still right around 10 hours. He is a sleeper and needs that amount of sleep. If not, he is one cranky mess.

He wants to stay up later. With evening activities, dinner, homework, brushing teeth and reading, I do sometimes feel like we are on a chain gang knocking things out to get to bed. Sometimes, I just want to talk with him or play a game. My motivation for getting him to bed early is so I can then get my sleep.

Maybe we'll officially name 9 p.m. as bedtime. We'll see how that goes for a while and then maybe push it to 9:15 p.m.

Once basketball season is over, there will not be as many evening activities -- Christopher's practice is Friday nights and tournaments are on the weekends. We may be able to avoid the rush and still get to bed early come March.

I need to read up on sleep time for pre-teen boys and call our pediatrician. In my heart, I know my child needs his sleep. He has always been a sleeper, for which I am grateful because I am a sleeper.

In fact, I need to start getting ready for bed now!