Micah's in that awful stage where he only naps like half of the times I put him down for a nap. Sigh..... I hate when that happens. I also find, at this age, that kids have a harder time when they wake up than they did, say, when they were one. They cry and weep and wail and gnash their teeth, etc. I had a friend once call it Post-Nap Depression. Perfect name.
I'm still fighting the good fight. I reeeeeeeeeeeally need time away from Mikey for awhile every day, so I insist on putting him down. Sometimes he yells and throws things the whole time he's in there. And then I make him put away the toys he threw. Maybe someday he'll understand that it's counterproductive to do that. Sometimes he wakes up wayyyy too early and cries and cries and cries. I settle him down with a My Little Pony movie, and bam. He's down for the count:
Sometimes he's behaving himself and happy, so we go without a nap. And then he falls asleep in the car when we go pick up daddy from work.
Naps. I love, love, love naps. I wish we could explain to little kids how much they will long for naps when they get older. When I think of all of the valuable nap time I must have wasted... it makes me sad. Thank goodness its summer and I have time to repent of my youthful transgressions and take afternoon naps as often as possible. I will have to dedicate my next nap to Micah.
ReplyDeleteLetting go of naps is THE HARDEST THING. To transition my kids (and me - mostly). I make them have "quiet time". They lay in my bed with me and watch TV for about an hour. They can't talk - move around, wrestle - whatever. They have to QUIETLY watch TV. It gives me a little rester roo and helps them to decompress as well. (they are usually SUPER excited about it because they get to stay up instead of take a nap - so you can make them do whatever you want) I haven't been so good about it lately with Jame and I notice he's been falling asleep a lot while driving in the car, and stuff - time to reinstall the quiet time. Josh still does it some times.
ReplyDeleteI commonly use the term "post-nap depression" and I think I got it from you. I think it so perfectly describes the madness when a 2 or 3 year old or 6 or 7 year old gets woken up too early. Good luck keeping those naps going.
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