What’s the game plan today for my 4 y/o?

[elitecheapjersey]

We got him to bed at 8. Found out at 10 his light was on and he was playing with his trains. Put him to bed again. Put him to bed a third time at 11:30.

Then he woke up at 5:00, made himself breakfast, and played with his train again. He usually gets 12 hours of sleep. Overall super weird night. He never does any of this.

Should I send him to daycare still? Keep him home and have him nap for like 6 hours? Make him push through till the night?

 

[testinggg]

@elitecheapjersey When we have weird sleepless nights, it’s usually followed by the next step in coming down with an illness.

 

[elitecheapjersey]

@testinggg I’ll keep note, thank you.

 

[arthurj01]

@elitecheapjersey A four year old got up and made himself breakfast?
Jeez!! Tell him I'll have 2 poached eggs and crispy bacon

 

[elitecheapjersey]

@arthurj01 Hah. Capris sun and cereal without milk, but he’ll be there soon enough!

 

[pm1909]

@elitecheapjersey Are you sure your 4 year old isn't a 20 year old college student?

 

[tommot]

@pm1909 I'm not in college but I'm 21 and this sounds like a great breakfast lol

 

[billdoetree]

@elitecheapjersey My 4yo insisted on making breakfast for the family this weekend so he made us toaster waffles in the microwave!

 

[zandonlink]

@elitecheapjersey I’d send him to daycare…. But I’d also let the daycare know he had a weird night and might be a little tired/grumpy. After that capri sun wears off, he’s going to be a terror… luckily, that is a them problem. It’s not the first or the last time a daycare would have to deal with a child that didn’t get a ton of sleep.

If your feeling guilty about the extra work your making your daycare have to do… refer to your last bill and carry on.

 

[clandrovers]

@zandonlink You’re right, that’s a “let daycare handle it”. I have sympathy for the individual workers there but since my child’s day care charges and arm and a leg and they’ve apparently decided a rotating cast of characters is much better for a room of toddlers who value consistency and relationships above all else- Bye, Felicia, have a nice time.

 

[zandonlink]

@clandrovers Totally hear you on the empathy towards the workers, especially if they are nice and build strong meaningful relationships with the kiddos. That being said, it's a daycare and I pay good money for my kid to go there so I can go make okay money somewhere else haha. A tired grumpy kid is totally something those folks have handled before.

 

[barimix]

@elitecheapjersey Just roll with your normal routine if they're up and moving. Keep that momentum. Especially if they're getting a nap at day care. Hopefully it makes bedtime easier. As far as the not sleeping and getting his own breakfast, for us that usually means cognitive jump, so you might be looking forward to some cool new stuff.

 

[amantnovi]

@elitecheapjersey Play it by ear. Continue on as normal. Does the daycare do naps? You might have an early bed time tonight. As others have mentioned, he might be sick. My anecdotal experience, my son is the opposite when he's sick. He'll sleep in till 730 and go to bed super early when he's sick.

 

[katrina2017]

@elitecheapjersey I'd send him to daycare so his routine doesn't get disrupted any further. He'll be tired and terrible today, try to keep him up until bed time anyway.

 

[tlip]

@elitecheapjersey He’ll learn very quickly that not sleeping = staying at home.

 

[bebe127]

@elitecheapjersey Coincidentally my 4 year old was restless last night too. She slept from 8:30 to about 11, woke up to tinkle but went back to sleep instantly (which is normal). Woke up again at 2:30 and was wide awake. Basically stayed up til 5 or so, kept waking me back up for water, the bathroom again, etc. She did go back to sleep for those 2 more hours or so and then got up for preschool.

Either decision is reasonable, going in or not.

 

[seven1981]

@elitecheapjersey This is a big reason I'll keep a monitor in the room as long as I can.

 

[fsd50]

@elitecheapjersey He’ll prolly raise hell at daycare, my reco would be to keep him home. You never know when he’s gonna hit the wall

EDIT: Holy crap, excuse me for thinking worse case scenario

 

[elitecheapjersey]

@fsd50 That’s all very true. Alright.

 

[fsd50]

@elitecheapjersey I will admit I say this having only a 6MO but had similar experiences w/ my wife’s younger sister who I’ve essentially been helping raise since she was 1