Hi Layla,
The early starts don't bother me because she wakes up silently and plays until I get her. The only reason I know she's awake is because I have a video monitor, which can be a blessing and a curse
I think she needs more night sleep. When her nights get shorter than 11.5 hours it is not good for her and it shows in her behavior during the day. Also, when her nights are too short she wants to take her naps earlier causing the cycle to repeat itself. I do think she needs more waketime before bed. Today was better:
6:50: awake (got about 11.25 hrs)
asleep around 10:30ish, woke her at 11:00
asleep about 1:40, woke her at 3:45
7:30: bed, asleep about 7:45
I put her to bed a little later because she slept so long for her pm nap. I don't know if I let her sleep too long, we will see in the am. She prefers to make up sleep during naps and I always struggle with whether I should wake her from the pm nap. She really likes to take a nice long pm nap, but when it cuts into night sleep we run into problems.
Shannon