“Now I know why tigers eat their young…”

My daughter’s sleep schedule is slowly wearing me down to the nub. Lately, the best case scenario has the kid sleeping from 8 to 12:30, usually without making a peep. This is good and bad, it’s good that she sleeps for so long without waking up, and I use the time to do the stuff around the house that needs doing. It’s bad because, if she’s going to be feisty it’s easier to deal with her when I’m already awake. After she eats and is changed she sleeps from 1 until ~3:30, then she eats again (my Dad is the only other person I know who can eat this many meals in the middle of the night). Then the wheels come off. If, and I can’t stress if enough here, she goes back to sleep at all it’s usually only for about a half-hour. She loves hanging out with people from this point until ~8, when she takes a short nap. If one of us doesn’t hang out with her she starts talking and gets progressively louder until she’s screaming in her crib. Once she reaches this point she demands constant attention, even diverting your attention from her for one second is dealt with harshly. It starts with the very effective Big Lip (extended lower lip….very sad indeed) and reaches full-blown screaming within 5 seconds. Sounds fun, doesn’t it? The rub is that she’s pretty much perfect the rest of the day, and if you give her your undivided attention she’s happy, but it’s real hard waking up at 4 to play with someone for a couple of hours. I also love to sleep more than most, and my wife is in the same boat. So, typically, we end in a weird half sleep, half baby screaming in your ear, getting up every 15 minutes, 10th level of hell.