Toddler Sleep Habbits

Hi there - My son is the same and he is now 3 1/2. Some days are better than others - a good day is if he wakes and plays trains in his room (he has a train play table) or he will pile them into the LR floor and play there as it is outside our room. When he was 2 my husband would actively talk with him before bed about waking up and playing in his room - he would ask "what will you play tomorrow" and help set out toys for the morning. It helps that he can put on a light by himself, before he could reach the switch we put an IKEA lamp in his room that he could turn on and off. I also would keep a small cup of water on his table so he didn't need to get us up for a drink.

A bad day, he comes to our room and insists I get up and make coffee - he always says "the sun is up, we need to be awake now". But more and more he is just waking an playing in his room for 1/2 hour to 45 minutes.

As I work full time, it is nice that he is up and ready to go in the morning. According to my Mom - I was the same way and still am an early riser.

I too have an early riser who just turned 3. I dont know where he gets it from seeing as neither me or my dh are morning people. My other 2 (girls) can easily sleep til 9am.
I did this w/ my 11yr old when she was 3 and recently started w/ my 2 younger ones. I put cereal in a baggie and a drink in the fridge. When they get up they go get it and turn on the tv which is preset for cartoons. My son can hit the favorite button and change cartoons if he likes.

That should buy you an extra hour easily.
My problem is that my kids wont stay out of my room and dont "visit" very quietly. So I have a little more training to do. They also get into mischief after about 30-45minutes too. So I keep the baby moniter on and I can hear everything they do.

Have you tried having him lay on the floor next to your bed to rest until about 630. Maybe set your alarm and tell him he cant get up until it goes off.
Also make sure his room is dark and run a fan to block early a.m. noises.
Hope this helps you.

Does he have toys and books in his room? Have you asked him to play with his toys and books by himself when he wakes up and wait for you to come get him? Another option is if you have a TV in your bedroom is to tell him to come watch TV in bed with you guys and then you can snooze for a bit longer (we do that when our son wakes up too early which only happens sometimes thank God, but then again, we have a the opposite trouble of getting him to sleep). He should still have a nap so definitely don't give that up no matter what other people tell you. It's very common today to stop naps at 3 years and I (and our pediatrician) think it's absurd. When my husband and I were kids we took naps till we were 5 years old and then when we stopped had an hour of quiet time instead.
What allergies does he have? My older has life threatening peanut and sesame and level 2 for soy and a bunch of level 1's. My baby (we just found out 2 weeks ago) has multiple food allergies. I have had to eliminate so many things from my diet there are barely any foods for me to eat!

The thing people don't understand is kids don't get up at a time they get up with the sun. A certain amount of light in their room wakes them up. So knowing this putting them to bed earlier or taking naps away won't change what time they get up. I have tested this with soooo many kids. All that taking naps and putting to bed later does it give them less sleep and makes them crabby. A normal time for children to go to bed is 7 or 7:30pm and they will normally wake up at the time the sun comes up which is slightly different for each child but is somewhere between 5:30 to 6:30am. That is great you will be thankful when he starts school or daycare. My daughter wakes up on her own for school i rarely have to go in and wake her up for school. Plus going to be that early is late enough to be night but earlier enough to give you time in the evening for you and your husband or alone time it's great. good luck

Black out shades are a must. You can find them at Bed, Bath & Beyond - they're a little pricey, but well worth it.

Also, there are several toddler alarms/night lights you can get that change color when it is time to get up. I don't have a specific model/type to recommend. Perhaps you can find one of those and let him know that he needs to play quietly in his room until it shows it's time to get up. Another way is to put a digital clock in his room, and then put the number 6 or 7 on a paper to show him what the first number on the clock needs to look like for him to come get you. Good luck!