The early morning wake ups have settled down in week 109 - hurray!! I mean, they're still early (5.30am) but not as bad as they were.

We went to Lizzie's second birthday party on Saturday morning - the theme was flying. So, all the little girls were wearing their fairy dresses and only a few of the boys had wings on! I had borrowed a cape from Bear Park but Joseph wasn't interested in wearing it. Lizzie had got a great wooden kitchen from her parents and Joseph had a great time playing with it. They tried to play pass the parcel but the kids were too young to get it (J was too busy cooking "parrot au vin: - a stuffed toy parrot in a saucepan - to participate).

We got home and Joseph was a bit tired and emotional after a week at Bear Park and the party so his Saturday afternoon sleep consisted of collapsing behind his closed door for an hour and a half (I went up when he woke and we had a cuddle...then he fell asleep in my arms so I laid down on the bean bag and we both slept for another hour and a half!)

Despite the later wake ups, we have now developed a little problem around going to bed at night...Joseph has fallen out of love with his bed and refuses to sleep in it. His preference is to sleep in our bed which we allowed in the latter part of the week (too tired and trying to get through to the weekend!).

So, on Saturday afternoon (as described above), I started instituting the Robyn Barker "Toddler Love" routine which is basically leaving them to "self settle" or cry themselves to sleep!! I shut all the doors upstairs (bathroom, small room, our bedroom) and only leave his one open. In Joseph's room there is his single bed or a queen sized futon...we give him the option of sleeping in either one. If he doesn't settle before we leave the door gets shut!

He had another good three hour sleep on Sunday afternoon as well (all on the futon!) and was still asleep when Finn arrived for a playdate. Luckily, Joseph woke up happy and the two of them had a good play and run around together (although Finn did destroy the train track but Dan and Joseph have rebuilt it into something quite spectacular!).

Dan's just come downstairs after putting Joseph to bed and he's back in his bed - go figure!!!