Tuesday. Library. Poop.
Need I say more?
Well, I will; a little bit, at least. A fairly good day today - sunshine, time outside, another successful gym workout (Jemma cries when I leave her and when I pick her up, but is supposedly happy in between), and some easy playing at the library. Jason, in a surprise move, got home EARLY tonight and was able to help with bedtime, which pleased me greatly.
The thing that is driving me crazy right now is Annie's erratic sleep patterns. Ever since I read the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child when Annie was about 5 months old and it became MY SLEEP BIBLE, I have been somewhat obsessed with making sure my children sleep well. We don't go places during their nap times. We don't make plans to stay out late and disrupt bedtimes. We don't go in and mess around once they've been tucked in (unless they're sick). So far, I've been rewarded (or just lucky) with two girls who mostly get all the sleep they need and are better-behaved for it.
Now, Annie is ceasing the afternoon nap. I know - she's nearly four years old, so this is completely normal. And I agree. If she would just totally give it up and then, instead, go to bed earlier at night, I could cope. I would miss the lull in our day after lunch, but I would get over it. What I can't handle is her pretending that she's going to nap so I go through all the story/tucking-in drama and leave her in there with plans to do other things for an hour or so . . . only to have her emerge later, smiling sheepishly, not having napped. And does she go to bed earlier those nights, to make up for lost sleep? NO. She chats and sings and eats the paint off her bed (that will have to wait for another post) for up to an hour and a half before finally going to sleep. Needless to say, her mood and behavior lately have not been the best ever. Lots of rudeness, random meltdowns and tantrums, and late-afternoon weeping and whining.
I have hope: that this is a phase to be gotten through, similar to when they give up the morning nap and are grouchy for a month or two; that the ramped-up activity when Annie starts gymnastics will tire her out sufficiently for her to keep napping through the summer; that she will totally stop napping, we'll be able to start doing fun things in the afternons, and she'll really go to bed earlier; that I'll acquire a Zen-like attitude about the whole thing, knowing that I've done my Heathy Sleep Habits best to provide her with a postive sleep system and she'll eventually choose to get all the sleep her body needs.
The Zen-like attitude is not likely. But I have started reading A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle. Perhaps a zen-like attitude will soon be mine . . .
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1 comment:
Ahhh, a fellow Weisbluth fan. I hear you, pal...a bible, indeed.
I'd say you're doing everything just the way you should...and that you are right--she'll come out of this phase, just like they do when they drop the morning nap.
Look at Lucy C.--I remember Sarah being so freaked when she dropped the afternoon nap for good (freaked may not be the best word, but the girl wasn't happy bout it, and I don't blame her)...anyway, she now goes to bed earlier than Benjamin.
I aspire to that bedtime once B gives up the afternoon nap as well.
Anyway!
I also wanted to say that I, too, am quite enjoying the Tolle book.
When I read it.
When I have time.
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