I am pretty sure that Ewan's nap is on its way outta here. It has been getting harder for him to go to sleep during nap time. Even today at almost 1:30 he is still not asleep. He did not take a nap yesterday or the day before and woke up at 6:30 this morning--about an hour earlier than he should have. Not taking a nap two days in a row is difficult for him--and his parents. Yesterday, by dinner time everything was fit worthy.
"BUT I DON'T WANT THE BLUE CUP, I WANT THE ORANGE CUP!"
"BUT I DON'T WANT A PINK PLATE, I WANT THE BLUE PLATE!!"
(Screaming and crying)
Knowing how tired he is makes it a little easier to have patience with his attitude. We told him that all he needed to do was to ask Isaac for the orange cup.
"BUT I DON'T WANT TO!!!!"
Isaac was being very sweet about the whole thing, as if he knew that Ewan was running on fumes, sweetly handed Ewan the orange cup.
"BUT I DON'T WANT THE ORANGE CUP!!!!!!"
Oh bother.
We have been invited to a neighbor's house for dinner and I wanted Ewan to get a little snooze in to recharge his very low batteries. I finally had to leave after he was literally laying down moving his legs and bobbing his head up and down to keep himself awake. I told him that I was afraid I was going to say or do something in sin and that I would be leaving. He knows today is not rest time, but nap time and that if he gets out of bed he will quickly receive the proper consequences.
I was hoping that the nap would hold out for about 6 more months so that I could have some guaranteed sleep after the baby comes. But alas, it does not seem to be the case. Luckily, we have installed mandatory rest time where he stays in his room and can look at books and play with puzzles. Inevitably, he will get out his tools at some point and play with them but I choose not to fight that. As long as he is quiet, stays in his room, and does not try to come out then I am happy. I will still get a little nap in I think but I am more alert to any mischievous behavior which makes it hard to sleep.
Some days it is harder to determine which is worse, no nap and uber crankiness or having him better rested with a nap but then bed time becomes more of a battle. If we let him sleep through his nap cycle (about 2 hours) then we won't fall asleep until 9 or sometimes even later. I definitely like him having an earlier bedtime at 7pm but sometimes the crankiness seems more costly and harder to deal with. I have never been fond of nap transitions--from 3 naps to 2 naps to 1 nap and now to 0 naps. This is the hardest one for sure. Blech!
I'm a Texan born woman transplanted across the ocean to live in England with my husband and four boys. Aside from being a stay-at-home mom, I teach birth classes for couples who want to birth naturally. My blog is about my life and how I stay sane through it all.
7 comments:
I'm glad I'm not at the "no nap" transition yet. My sister-in-law instituted quiet time for her little guy, and he would have that while his little sister napped. She said the room might be torn apart at the end of the time, but she could really tell her son was more rested just by being alone some. Sometimes he'd even lay down on the floor and rest on his own. Then a fun game was "pick up time"! I think she just put a baby gate on his door (he was younger than Ewan, though, so this might not be effective for you) and kept a baby monitor in his room to hear if he was being too mischievious, and she even was able to nap small bits. -monica
I still have the monitor in his room to listen for sounds I shouldn't be hearing and it definitely helps Ewan to have some alone time. He is such an extrovert that some solitude does him well. I think it really does help.
I don't envy you at all. (Helpful I know). I am not looking forward to the transition with Levi. He didn't nap yesterday (I was babysitting for a friend and Levi had a hard time going to bed over at my friends house) and was actually behaving pretty well but Dan put him to bed early and now it's practically 9am and he's still not awake... I should probably go wake him up...
I'm pretty impressed that you managed to keep Ewan on a nap schedule until he was 4! Our 3 yr old son is already phasing out of his nap; he takes one about half the time. We're on Arab time, which means "stay up late, sleep in late." Now, for Julian, "late" means by 10pm (usually 9pm-9am w/ no nap, or 9-7 with a 1 1/2 hr nap in the pm), but most other kids I know stay up until 12 or even 1am and sleep the morning away. I can't do that; I am a total morning person and this gives me an opportunity to do a couple of things around the house before he wakes up, then take him off to daycare so he can have some good play time with other kids his age.
It's hard to explain to the kids in the neighborhood that he can't come out and play at 9pm because he's already asleep. They used to give me strange looks and I thought it was b/c they didn't understand my Arabic, but now I know it's b/c people don't go to bed that early during the summer! :-)
I think the quiet time is good. He may even decide later on after he is used to the idea that a little snooze isn't such a bad idea after all. At least, we can hope that some days he will learn that a nap is great when he needs one. Guess I am dreaming, huh? Admit that one is tired...I dunno, it takes a brave heart at that age to admit one is tired.
Sharon--
I know that every kid is different and some phase out the nap sooner than others. I guess I am not too surprised that it is on its way out since he is so close to being 4.
Today was another no nap day and the afternoon was a bit of a challenge--not as bad as the other day though--PTL! Hopefully his body will adjust soon. I know that Sunday afternoons Jon and I like to take naps so I guess we will just have to learn to sleep through his noise--or go back to taking shifts on napping (he gets one hour then I get one hour).
I know that I would have a hard time letting my kids stay up until 10pm because I like that time with Jon in the evening to do something together. That is interesting that kids stay up so late there (and parents too!). I know i am usually toast by 10--but I guess if my kids woke up later then I would wake up later too. Do stores open early there? I was wondering if people go to bed later and sleep later if it also impacts store/shop/work hours....
Well, it's summer, so right now almost nothing opens before 9am (a lot of places open later), and many of the shops stay open late at night. It's just too dang hot during the day, and most people don't have AC. the weird thing is, it's actually nice and cool in the morning, so I prefer to be up at 7 so I can open windows and let my house cool off, but I guess people here are just night owls.
Ramadan is worse... because in addition to the weird hours, everyone is cranky during the day b/c they're fasting and can't eat or drink (not even water!) or smoke their cigarettes.
Back on the subject of napping though, we have instituted quiet time on no-nap days. It's helpful so we can just have some down time in the afternoon. As for his "loud" toys, I put them high up, so he's limited to books, stuffed animals, and puzzles.
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