when 3 become 4: in the wee small hours of the morning

A has recently dropped her naps. I was dreading this as some sort of catastrophic event in her short little life - Mt. St. Helen's-sized emotional eruptions due to tiredness at 4 in the afternoon. We have had some of those episodes and short of giving her a nap at that late hour, a nice calm Baby Einstein dvd (just music and animals) is a lifesaver.

Because on the days that I have caved in and given her a nap, not only does she stay up and part-ay in her room until 9:00 at night she gets up at 3:00 IN THE MORNING.

It's exhausting.

To say the least.

One night I heard her crying and I got up. We've been trying out having her sleep without pull-ups, which is a big step in the whole potty training journey. The first week when she whined during the night, it usually meant she had to go or had had a bit of an accident. I went in to check her and perhaps take her to the bathroom and change her pajamas. She usually went right back to sleep after that, which is very good for Mom and Dad who need their sleep as much as anyone does to stay chipper and cheerful.

Not so this night.

You would think a dark, somewhat chilly house at 3 am would discourage a small child from wandering the halls. Not so our undaunted daughter. What does she do if it's dark? She drags the piano stool all the way down the hall in order to turn on the big hall light!

I still wasn't in deep sleep from getting up with her previously. I had left our door open and was awakened by this bright light streaming into our room. What was going on out there?

Me: What are you doing?
A: Turning on the light.
Me: Why?
A: It's dark outside.
Me: It's still night time, of course it's dark out. You're supposed to be in bed!
A: I want to play toys. I can't see them. I need the light on. (sidenote: A can talk very well, in full sentences. She actually said, I can't see them. I need the light on.)
Me (very tired and grumpy to the point of being monosyllabic): No. No light. Bed time. Now.

It took me a little longer to get back to sleep that time. We had a lazy morning that day, perhaps with a little more coffee and a little more Diego than is our wont. That's what's needed when you're working on a few hours of sleep and you feel like it's the wee small hours of the morning when it's the full sunshine of the middle of the day,