Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Nap time is in Peril!


I love nap time! For almost seven years now, there has been at least an hour, sometimes two, in the afternoon where one or more of my children is sleeping and the other(s) are quietly watching a video or playing in their room. Something has been happening the last few days, however, which makes me fear for the future of this precious ritual to which I owe my sanity. Jayne is climbing out of her crib and coming out of her room! I've known this was coming for a while now. She'll be turning two next week and I've been putting off converting her crib into a toddler bed, but I don't think I can delay any longer.
Yesterday, she laid down for her nap just fine. About an hour and a half later, she comes toddling out of her room to tell me, "I wake up all by myself!" So cute, but so sad at the same time. So today, she decided that she didn't want to nap at all. Each time I put her in her bed, she climbs out and comes out into the living room and tells me "I all done nap." How do I effectively tell her that Mommy's not "all done nap"?!
I remember this transition with Jonah and Lilly too. It's one of my least favorite of the baby to big kid rites of passage, going from the crib to the bed. With Jonah, I had to lay on the floor next to him and pretend to be asleep until he would fall asleep. Effective, but time consuming. Then when Lilly made the change, I had to do the same thing. Then we put Lilly and Jonah in the same room and nap time became this impossible feat that would taunt me all morning long making me hope for an hour to myself where my two darling children would just lie down in their beds and drift off into a peaceful slumber. Sadly, this was never the reality. The ONLY way I could ever get them to nap was to lie down next to them so they would hold still. Sometimes this would take an hour, but it was totally worth it when they would start snoring away and I could spend an hour eating my lunch and watching "Friends" reruns in peace.
Now we're at the point where Jonah never naps (he's at school) and Lilly only does on very rare occasions. Jayne's daily nap is the whole reason that I can even get Lilly to do "quiet time" so I can have a little "Mommy Time".
To complicate things further, we're planning on making a room switcheroo in the next couple of weeks, putting Jayne and Lilly in one room together and Jonah in his own room. I fear that my two giggling girls will never nap again! I know Jayne won't nap if she knows Lilly's not napping in her bed and Lilly won't nap unless Daddy's home and the whole family is napping at the same time and even then she and Jonah usually just sneak out of their beds and read books or play blocks or something which leads me to conclude that the days of the afternoon nap at my house are numbered! Numbered, People! Not a big number either.

3 comments:

THE CASPERSON'S said...

I also love nap time and my kids rarely take naps anymore. That would be no fun having your husband gone that long. You are a trooper. I look foreward to reading your blog. I love how you can express what you are feeling by putting things into words. Good Luck with everything

Ishihara Family said...

I feel for you....Asher is sleeping right now and I love love love nap time!!

Unknown said...

Isn't it AWFUL!?!? Naptime should be called "Mother's Sanity Time." I now have "quiet time" for Lillie. We lay down a blanket and pillow and grab some books. I close the door and about 1/2 the time she actually falls asleep. Good luck!