I believe we've come to a napping crossroad in the VerWaynia household. Around Evan's third birthday, we were having a horrible time getting him to stay still long enough to nap. Sometimes he'd be in his room for well over an hour before falling asleep, during which, I'd have to go up and down the stairs telling him to get back in bed. He still showed all the signs of needing a nap, he just wouldn't stay in his bed long enough to fall asleep. So, I made some changes. I started sitting outside his door and basically not allowing him to even move until he fell asleep, and it worked. He'd usually fall asleep within 15 minutes. Since November, I've gradually gotten less restrictive, but I still don't go downstairs until he falls asleep, because he'll know! If I'm doing anything besides reading, doing a quiet time, or napping myself, he can sense it, and the jig is up.
My immobility was worth it, if it meant he took a good nap and spent the rest of the day in a better mood. But, over the last 2 months, things have taken a turn. He still naps well at home, but anywhere less controlled is usually a lost cause. And on days that he does nap, he doesn't fall asleep at night until 9:30. Whereas on days that he doesn't nap, he's asleep by 8:00 at the latest.
It would seem that Evan may no longer really need his nap, so Jeff and I have been asking ourselves if we should still be enforcing it. With baby Aida's birth only a month away, I'm also realizing that I'm no longer going to have the time to monitor him closely enough to make sure he actually sleeps. So, I think we're going to allow Evan to give up his nap, it's the end of another era.
Evan will still be spending a "quiet time" in his room, but I won't be making him sleep. This definitely has one big advantage. It won't really matter when his nap time happens, so I can work it around Aida's naps, maybe even getting a nap in myself.
He's such a little boy now. Have I told you that I no longer buy T sized clothes for him? He doesn't need a nap, and he's wearing boy sized clothes! Not to mention he starts preschool in the Fall. He's so grown up! Just in time for us to bring home a baby and start the process all over again :-)
1 comment:
We have mandatory "quiet" time at our house for at least an hour to an hour and a half. They can read, talk to their animals whatever, but it is time to de-compress. They go into separate rooms and we all take a break. Sometimes I am lucky, like now, and they sleep :-)
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