For the summer, I've given up on getting DS7 to sleep at a reasonable (9:00-ish) hour. Even if we get him up early, he can't get to sleep at night until 10:30 or 11:00. A few days of that, and we have a cranky guy on our hands.
We let him read for a while, but then eventually turn out the lights and tuck him in. Even then, he just lays there, staring at the ceiling, and will occasionally call and ask me to give him something to "dream about" - aka - something to hold his thoughts in a happy place until he falls asleep. I feel so badly for him, because he wants to go to sleep.
We did a couple trial doses of melatonin (in the form of a small cup of the drink NeuroSleep). It certainly was magical in its effect! So we'll keep that in our pocket. But we're trying to avoid the every night thing just because I'm jumpy about the idea. We already have him "addicted" to white noise ...
Suggestion for moving bedtime: As the ultimate cheat - for the week before school starts, I'm taking him from California (Pacific coast time) to Texas (central) to see grandparents. We'll get home on Sunday and school starts on Tuesday. I'm hoping he's still on Central time when school starts, so 9:00 will feel like 11:00! So pathetic, but I really did plan the schedule that way.
Side note - his Dad can't get to sleep at night either and routinely stays up to 3am. So I'm not thinking this problem is going away any time soon ....
