Oliver was a great sleeper for the first three years of his life. He slept through the night from the age of 8 weeks, he napped consistently, he was a well-rested and happy little guy.

And then? He got too big for his crib.

When we initially took the side rail off Oliver’s crib (a few weeks after his third birthday), he stayed in bed the first two nights. We could hardly believe it. Then he discovered that he could get out of bed. Then he discovered that not only could he get out of bed, he could LEAVE HIS ROOM. Bedtime gradually stretched into one, two, three hours of returning him to his room over and over, less and less patiently, with more and more pleading, bribing, yelling, crying. And Oliver does not sleep in, no matter how late he stays up. Oh no. These late night battles were followed by early morning wake-ups. He was coming into our room at 6:30am… 6:00am… 5:SOMETHINGTOODAMNEARLY. Meanwhile, we were also getting up at least once per night with a newborn! If it wasn’t Andrew waking up Oliver, it was Oliver waking up Andrew. It was exhausting day after exhausting day, followed by exhausting bedtime after exhausting bedtime. I was running on coffee and adrenaline. I felt horrible, and worse, I felt like a horrible mother.

A few weeks ago, beginning on Christmas, Oliver decided he didn’t need an afternoon nap anymore, either. That’s when I decided something had to be done before we all went crazy. He wasn’t sleeping enough at night, he wasn’t taking naps, and he was CRANKY, disobedient, and wild (being stuck indoors during freezing, snowy weather didn’t help). I was tired of the fights, tired of the bad moods (especially mine), just tired of all of us being tired.

So I used an idea from this awesome book (which is why both my boys slept/sleep so well as babies!) and bought him a clock. A simple, small, digital clock with big red numbers. He was REALLY excited about it.

“This will help you know when it’s time to get up in the morning,” I explained. “If you see a ’7′ on the left side, like this”—I drew him a picture of a digital ’7′ and placed it right in front of the clock—”you can come into our room. But if it’s not a ’7′ yet, that means it’s too early, and you should try to go back to sleep until you see a ’7.’”

“OKAY!” he exclaimed happily. “I LOVE my new clock!”

And you know what? IT WORKED. He still woke up earlier than 7:00 the next morning (we only knew this because I was up with the baby), but he waited in his room until 7:00 before coming to get us. “There’s a ’7′ on the left side!” he proclaimed, “come and see!” and he dragged us into his room to show us. We made a big deal out of it and praised him, and gave him a special treat (a piece of sweet cinnamon bread) with his cereal at breakfast. The second morning, he actually slept until after 7:00—and since then he usually still does!

So I did the same thing for his nap time, drawing a picture of a digital ’2,’ so he knew to stay in bed—or at least in his room—until 2:00. (He goes up to his room around 12:30.) “Even if you don’t fall asleep,” I told him, “you still need to rest quietly in your bed for a while.”

And IT WORKED AGAIN. After 3 weeks of no naps and really no break in action at all, he stayed in his room, and after the first couple days he starting NAPPING again. Hallelujah! I’m so glad I didn’t let him just give up his naps yet, because he obviously still needs them. I know he won’t always need or be able to nap much longer, especially after he starts preschool in the fall, but for now it’s still REALLY helping.

I also had Oliver help me write out four Sleep Rules from that same book. We went over all the rules together, and he was very proud that he could read/spell some of the words (Oliver, sleep, bed, go).

He now keeps this sign with him in bed. If he follows his Sleep Rules and waits for the right number on the clock, he gets a star on the special calendar we made, which hangs on the refrigerator. There are two spots for a star each day, one for nap time and one for bed time; each star is good for some type of privilege, such as a treat (like a small piece of dark chocolate) or a favorite activity (we don’t let him watch much tv, maybe one or two episodes of “Word World” per day at most, so his reward could be watching “Cars” or some other movie on the weekend). We go over his Rules and the Time To Get Up every time we bring him to bed, and we always thank him enthusiastically when he stays in his room and sleeps. He likes having a routine again, and he REALLY likes getting praised and rewarded!

This strategy is not 100% fool proof, of course. For example, last night he came to get us twice, claiming that he had to poop on the potty (something we’re still working on), when apparently he didn’t have to go. We don’t want to discourage him from trying to poop on the potty, but we don’t want him to think it’s a game either, so after the second time we encouraged him to try to sleep and wait until morning to use the potty (which he did). We know we need to be flexible with the whole nighttime-potty-training thing for a while yet.

But the clock and the sleep rules are otherwise working beautifully, and he is SLEEPING more (or at least not waking us up at the crack of dawn) and we are ALL in better moods. It’s amazing what a $10 clock and a piece of paper can do.

Now if only I could teach ANDREW to use the clock…