Burnt Pancake

A friend and I were talking about raising your first kid and she kindly referred to the first as the "burnt pancake". You know, the first pancake is always a little brown, hard to keep together, and your test to make sure the pan is hot enough. Well, I've been laughing ever since because it really is true. The first child always gets the luxury of trial and error parenting. Case in point...

About 2 months ago, around the time Dave started school, Knox started waking up at 5:30 after being such an amazing sleeper. It was killing me. I was in early pregnancy, tired all the time, and my kid now decides not to sleep. We went to the doctor and found out he had double ear infections and his back molars were coming in. I was sure this was the culprit. I tried everything to help him sleep. The ear infections ended up lasting a good 2 months and we still are struggling but after 2 months, I started wondering if this wasn't the reason for him waking up. Last week I'd had enough and started reading online to see if I could find something to help. I darkened the windows, tried fans to drowned out noise, put him to bed earlier, put him to bed later, let him cry for an hour to see if he'd fall back asleep. There was nothing I hadn't tried! I found one last article that said to try giving them a snack before bed and then it dawned on me. Since Dave started school we've had to eat dinner at 5:30pm to accommodate night classes. I went on with my night and put Knox to bed as usual. I didn't piece together that when Knox woke up at 5:30, he ran straight to the fridge and his high-chair. We gave Knox a snack before bed and what do you know? He slept until 7:30! And has ever since. Ah...mother of the year over here! I have been starving my child for 2 months. Not only with food, but sleep due to the starvation! Good news is...it was an easy fix and we're all back sleeping soundly! My poor burnt pancake.