This seems to work on most kids. Mine, not so much. 4 hours of screaming and she refused to go back to bed. She was so tired but she was forcing herself to stay awake. She has a very strong personality. We just ended up getting lucky I think because around 1 she just settled down and began to enjoy sleep. Now at nearly 3 she will go to bed at 9:30 and sleep till 8:30 the next day. She only wakes up in the middle of the night about once a month and all we do is take her back, tuck her in and she goes right back to sleep.

I credit a tight night time schedule and persistence to much of her sleeping habits. The key is to take action early on and don't let them get into the bad habits/routine. Kids need structure and it can really cut down on the headbutting.

Slow and steady, man. Slow and steady.

I hope the OP's job doesn't involve hand-writing because it will probably come out like a sc sc sc scribble after consuming all those stimulants!

Young children are nature's way of telling us just how little sleep you can get and survive (retaining sanity is optional). Teens are nature's way of telling you you didn't really need to go to be early and early to rise is vastly overrated. Becomes even more interesting when they start driving and dating.

All the suggestions about developing proper sleep habits, making time for each other, and the usefulness of trailers are good. It'll come down to the lifestyle you, your wife, and family want and develop. If cycling is important enough, you will find a way to make it fit.

Get a trainer. 30 minutes of crappy, sweaty, indoor cycling beats no cycling at all. With really young kids you are stuck at home and need to keep a flexible schedule. However, there are times where they are sleeping, or hanging out in their crib or johnny jumper and don't need 100% of your attention. Good time to hook the bike up to the trainer and get a few minutes in. I did that for a while. It wasn't particularly fun, but it was better than doing nothing.

I find that with exercise, sleep will come and it will be better sleep. And you will adapt to a messed up schedule, it just takes time.

I get more sleep when I ride to work because then I don't have to get up extra-early just to exercise.

We have 4 kids, ages 6 through 14, and the schedule challenges now are daunting. They all have minimal activities, but when you multiply by 4, it adds up quick. If I didn't ride to work I probably wouldn't ride at all.

Same here. 3 kids, ages 1 through 10. Riding to work is the only exercise I can get because it has close to zero impact on other activities (I need to get to work anyway...)

If I had "light sleepers" I'd probably buy a trailer and ride while they sleep (ok, on these super-cyclable summer evenings...). The hometrainer idea is a good one. Plus, there are always very good hometrainers going for cheap in the classifieds.

Now, on sleep deprivation :
- sleep every time you can (even for 10 minutes)
- double-check your diet (if it's light you get more time to reload your batteries)
- don't try to achieve anything "personal" during the coming months, just wait...

We did the pre-Western lifestyle "family bed" routine, and it worked for us. (and our son turned out great too, much to the chagrin of the over-tired Spock adhering naysayers) =P

Looking forward to next year when the kids should be in the same school again, 1st time since the halcyon days of 4 yrs ago. Then 2 yrs of stability! (knock on wood, there's a lottery involved)