How Early is Too Early?

This morning Jacob got up at 5:00. He used to get up at around 7:00, then started moving more toward 6:30, and on bad days he sometimes gets up at 6:00. So, in my head, wake-up time is still 7:00 (because that sounds like a reasonable time to me). On those days when he gets up closer to 6:00, I tell myself, "Well, it's only an hour early." Today, I knew it was WAY too early, but if 6:00 is acceptable because it's an hour before 7:00, then isn't 5:00 okay because it's only an hour earlier than what I've already deemed an acceptable wake-up time? You see the dilemma.

Not that it mattered what I thought. Jacob had no intentions of going back to sleep. Despite my feeble attempts at weaning, my first line of defense was to try to nurse him back to sleep. When that failed, I immediately tried to nurse him again. I thought I could trick him. Get him all sleepy and relaxed, kind of like hitting the re-set button. No luck. Then I brought him into bed with me to snuggle (yeah, right). He loved it - he kept crawling to the edges of the bed, playing with the idea of attempting a free fall. I tried barricading him in with pillows, but they became mountains to climb. I gave him a flashlight, which entertained him for about 3 seconds, and then he smacked me in the face with it.

So up we got. And of course, at around 7:30 (a perfect wake-up time) he was ready for his nap. Sure, now he sleeps!

P.S. I should mention we're not at home. He was in the room with me, otherwise I would have left him in his crib (and probably still had to get up - who am I kidding?)