Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Well...Shucks!

Because this is a family blog, I will refrain from using stronger language, but man, I'm being tried as a parent lately.

My little Cole does not want to nap anymore! He is three. I am not ready for this!

Out of the past five days, he has only napped twice. There are tears (and not by Cole), frustration and my spanking hand is tired.

I am starting to think he is done with napping. Fellow bloggers, is this possible? I feel like there should have been a warning letter from the government or church or school or sombody when he turned three.

Because I haven't blogged in a while, I will post some pictures of my little rebel and his brother.


Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday Brady (my nephew) spends the day with us while his mommy is dentisting...


More to come soon. I won't take a break anymore, so keep checking.
In the meantime...do your kids still take naps?

4 comments:

Christy@pipandsqueak said...

Katherine does still take a nap but she is 8 months younger than Cole. I am hoping that she naps until Caroline is 6 months old at least. Then we will still have a "quiet time" in her room if at all possible.

Natalie said...

Hey Lauren! We miss you guys! I'm sorry to tell you that Addie gave up napping over a year ago (right around 24 months old). I do make her have quiet time in her room with books for about 45 minutes a day and I try to coordinate it with Doak's nap so I get a little time to myself! The boys are getting so big and are too cute!

Anonymous said...

ummm....i'm having a hrad enough time getting y 3 month old to nap don't scare me like this!

:)

good talking to you the other day!

Tracy said...

Hang in there Lauren! As a Mom to another same-age little guy who is not so fond of naps, I can relate to that tired spanking hand! J fought hard for a while, but is back to sleeping most days again. (the days he doesn't are days when he slept late in the morning, or I put them all down a little earlier, and he's truly not tired yet.)

Two things that help around our place:
1) First and most important: someone reminded me that I am simply not able to force my child to sleep, no matter how badly I want to. I CANNOT make the battle "sleep" and expect to win. My frustration level went down a lot when I finally gave up that fight. If he doesn't sleep, it's just going to be a rough day - but I can put him down early. J knows that, and he's not so fond of going to bed before his younger brothers... but if he doesn't nap, he knows now that's what will happen.
2) someone else mentioned a quiet time; a great idea we love. All the boys in my house are required to "disappear" in their room for 2 hours (the length of time they sleep if they nap). Sleeping or not, they must do something quietly (books or stuffed animals). We close the door when they sleep, and they know they're not allowed to get up before the door is opened (I have to make sure I don't get lazy about opening it when the 2 hours are up). Teaching that took several days, and even as I write this I had to go chase someone back to bed who was toying with the door handle, but "stay in your room" I can win (even if it takes tying it shut a few times).

Also, we try to help them understand why they have to sleep. They really are excited about growing up, and we try to help them understand that their brain and their bodies grow when they sleep - it's very important. Also, on days when I'm tired and crabby I try to make a point of saying "Mommy is cranky today, I need to take a good nap so I can feel cheerful again." That way when I say "you're going to be cranky if you don't sleep," they see that it applies to me, too. J has called me on it, actually - told me I needed a nap because I was being cranky.

And, when all else fails (and it will some (or most) days), remind yourself that before you can blink twice, they'll be teenagers and you'll have to fight to get them OUT of bed. "This too shall pass" and we'll miss it fiercely when it's gone.