I've been trying to get Thomas to take only 1 nap a day for a few weeks now, which he does just fine. It's just the timing of the nap that's off. If I wait too long to put him down then the nap ends up being too short. This makes it hard to keep him up in the evening so his bedtime is still super-early (6-6:30), which I strongly dislike. He then wakes up early (5:45-6ish), which is so painful for us. Sometimes Allison sleeps through this and wakes up later, sometimes he ends up waking her up. I long to get him on a better schedule...bedtime at 7, wake up at 7, nap from 1-3. Oh, how I wish I could just push a button and make it happen like magic!
Allison hasn't napped in a week. She's good about staying in her room for "resting", a term I use loosely since she plays and reads and does who-knows-what in there. I wish she'd sleep, though, since I think she either wakes Thomas up (cutting his nap short) or keeps him up (on those days when he just cries and cries before crashing). I wonder if she's outgrown the need for a nap since she's over 3.5, sleeps 12 hours or so at night, and seems not to suffer too much without it. She does get cranky, though, so I think she still needs to sleep during the day, but I don't know how to get her to do that.
It's so tricky with 2 kids. If it's not one then it's the other causing some sort of problem. Is it too much to wish for 2 kids that nap at the same time, go to bed at the same time, and wake up at the same time? Maybe this will all be a blur someday but it sure makes me nervous about bringing another kid into the mix.
3 comments:
Just remember: they will grow up. Someday they won't need naps and you'll not know what time they wake up because they don't bother you.
I feel your pain though. I wish it were possible to just change their body clocks. Ethan and Cole still go to bed at 6:30pm and wake up about 6-6:30am. Staying up later does not get them to sleep in at all. It's been totally futile to try to change it so I just live with it now.
alex stopped napping before she was 2 so i haven't had any nappers for a while now. and, none of my children have ever been good about "quiet time".
like bridget said, though, it is over before you know it and then you'll be feeling bummed that they are away from home from 8-3.
Thanks, guys. I know you're right but sometimes it's so hard to remember the big picture. That must have been torture, her giving up naps that early, Melissa! Allison is off and on but it doesn't really matter since she's out of my hair. Thomas is getting much better since I wrote the post. He'll nap from 1hr 45min to 3 hours now. Hopefully that will continue!
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