Sleep problems

So many of my parenting dilemmas are just not described in any parenting books. We are in the middle of one now.

For the past few weeks, Crash has been having a hard time going to bed. (FYI- this started way before the job chaos so it's not related to that.) He generally has at least one spanking before he stays in bed.

Now he's added a new twist. He turns on all the lights in his room: room light, closet light, and bathroom light.

For instance last night: he got out of bed shortly after I put him to bed and turned the lights on. So I disciplined him and turned the lights out. That was the last we heard of him and we went to bed a few hours later. When I awoke at 5am, all his lights are on but he is now asleep on his bed.

He's been doing this for several weeks. We thought maybe he's becoming afraid of the dark so we gave him flashlights and put a night light in the room. That didn't help.

Is this a discipline issue? Is this a weird sleep issue? Why would you wake up in the middle of the night and turn on all the lights and then go back to sleep?

He is tired during the day right now. He is occasionally waking up his brothers with his escapades. Actually, I am surprised he doesn't wake them up more often.

He's a funny little kid that way. Always got to do his own thing...