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Cordy, asleep in her chair

Cordy takes after her dad in many ways. She shares many of his dislikes, she is fascinated with Star Wars lightsabers, they both have food allergies, and of course, she has his curls. But she shares one other trait with him: she's an early riser.

Even as a baby, she was up for the day bright and early. She slept very little during the day (she was known as "that baby who doesn't nap" at daycare), and went to bed early. Keeping her up later never helped. Most days she was awake for the day by 6:30am. When sick, she might sleep until 8:00am. She never sleeps as much as she should.

Sleep is a precious thing to me. I really need at least eight hours a night to function at my best, and I like to stay up late. So having a child who wakes up at the crack of dawn is a little hard to deal with. Only she isn't waking up at the crack of dawn anymore. It's more like the middle of the night. While she used to wake up at 6:30am, now the time is moving back to 5:00am, and some days even earlier than that.

This morning, I woke up to feed Mira around 4:00am. When I got out of bed to go to the bathroom, I noticed Cordy's bedroom light was on. A few weeks ago I taught her how to turn on her light, hoping that this new skill would keep her in her room longer in the mornings. The idea was that she would wake up around 6:30am, turn on her light, and play quietly until we came in to get her. I listened closely to the door, and heard her talking to herself in a bright, cheery voice. She was wide awake.

She generally doesn't make too much of a fuss when she wakes up this early. But by 5:30 or so, she's knocking on her door, asking us to let her out. Sometimes she gives up and goes back to playing, but sometimes she is persistent. The knocking is loud enough to wake me up.

So I'll turn to all of you for advice. How do I get Cordy to sleep longer? Going into her room that early means she'll expect to be let out of her room, and anything other than expectation will result in an epic tantrum. I really don't want to be up for the day at 4:00am, either. Currently, we do not let her out of her room any earlier than 6:30am, no matter how early she wakes up. But I'm tired (heh) of waking up from her knocking on her door a full hour before the sun rises.

Will she adjust her schedule again once the novelty of turning her own light on wears off? Will sleep finally catch up with her? Or will I just be kicking my husband out of bed a little earlier in the day to take her downstairs? After all, she takes after him - he can get up with her.