Every Cloud has a Silver Lining
Which is my way of saying that even though it sucks, sucks, sucks that the naps are over, finito, yesterday’s news, gone with the dodo, and so on, there are some benefits. For instance, we can now take classes or make appointments after 11 a.m. without interrupting the Sacred Napping Cycle. The Cycle, for those of you that are interested, began each day at 11 a.m. with a full hour of lunch (Aurora’s a slow eater), followed by potty time, books, milk, song, etc. By 12:30 or 1 p.m. Aurora was in the crib, where she would complain or just talk to herself for 60-90 minutes before either pooping or falling asleep. If she pooped, game over, the diaper must be changed, and there was no napping after that. If she fell asleep, she’d usually be out for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, which means that the whole cycle took about 6 hours, during which I couldn’t do anything outside the house, and nothing that made very much noise within the house, either. Blog postings were an excellent way to spend a quiet hour (or four) each afternoon.
So yes, for those of you who are wondering why I don’t write blog posts very often anymore, it is because of the total lack of afternoon naps. Aurora’s last real nap was sometime around U.S. Thanksgiving, and although she did drift off on long car rides a couple of times in December, that was pretty much it for the whole nap thing. I’ve never heard of a child who was so convinced that naps were the enemy, and who had conducted such a successful war against them for so long, but there it is. The war has been won by Aurora. “Hail the conquering heroine!”
The other benefit of ending the naps is that nighttime sleeping has gotten eerily consistent, and consistently good. Bath at 7, in bed by 8:15, asleep by 8:30 means that she will wake up at 7:30 a.m. on the dot. She may vary by 30 minutes from day to day, but she’s remarkably consistent now, and for that I am extremely grateful.
So now Aurora and I are free from the tyrrany of napping (can you hear Mommy’s soft regretful sniffling in the background?), and we can stay longer at museums, or dine out for lunch (she loves edamame), or do whatever we want in the afternoon. We usually have “quiet time” for an hour, which consists of Aurora playing make-believe with her stuffed animals in the crib while Mommy answers emails, preps dinner, or grabs a quick snooze. It reminds me of Bill Cosby’s “Kindergarten” sketch, wherein the teacher announces that it’s naptime, and while 25 kids lie wide awake on mats, the teacher puts her head down on her desk and passes out. It’s all for the best. Really.
Anonymous said,
December 31, 1969 @ 4:00 pm
Mila Cohen said,
January 29, 2010 @ 11:30 am
My daughter was an early onset enemy of naptime. As soon as I gave in & let her cut it out she feel asleep quicker & more easily at night, slept a lot longer & more peacefully & woke up cheerful later in the morning. I missed the break but I didn't miss the battle, which was kind of what was exhausting me in the first place.My mom said I stopped taking naps by the time I was 1. My poor mom.
Jenny Dodge said,
January 29, 2010 @ 7:32 pm
I was not into napping, so my mom discovered those Disney books that came with a record for a way to occupy me for a little while and catch a breather. I bet they sell something similar now on CD or audiotape. Maybe your library has some. I had a few book/tape sets from teaching 1st grade, but they went to Jake when he was the right age. Mine/Jake's came from Scholastic. Let me know if you're interested and can't find any, and I'll check the teacher sources for ya.
Mila Cohen said,
January 30, 2010 @ 7:36 am
There's a device called "Story Reader" which magically reads to you as you turn the pages & follow along. There's an outlet for headphones, too. We got 1 as a gift & 1 as a hand-me-down along with a ton of story books — I'd mail you one, but buying it is probably cheaper than postage.
Anonymous said,
February 4, 2010 @ 2:49 pm
Hey Lisa, I noticed you've got three Facebook comments on this but no comments on the actual web site. If you have access to install plug-ins for your Wordpress, I think you should add Facebook CommentsTNG ( http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/facebook-commentstng/ ). It automatically gets the comments from your Facebook "notes" and adds them to your actual blog posts as comments.
David Nestor said,
February 4, 2010 @ 2:49 pm
Hey Lisa, I noticed you've got three Facebook comments on this but no comments on the actual web site. If you have access to install plug-ins for your Wordpress, I think you should add Facebook CommentsTNG ( http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/facebook-commentstng/ ). It automatically gets the comments from your Facebook "notes" and adds them to your actual blog posts as comments.
tanya spanier said,
February 19, 2010 @ 11:58 am
I don’t know if I ever thanked you for your posts on napping. I used to think, don’t ALL kids love to sleep?? But at six months, Theo is a TOTAL power-napper, only napping for 20-60mins max at a time. (He averages between 15-30mins, 2-3X/day.) For naps to last longer than 15mins, he needs it dark and silent. So with a 3yr-old around, that’s nearly never. (Also explains why there are less pictures of Theo.)
Sasha is a dif story, she still naps at school. We phased them out of weekends because she was going to bed WAY TOO late. I feel you on the double-edge of missing the break but nice not to be tied to the house.
Oh, on those “story readers”, we discovered a fun site called “OneMoreStory.com” which “reads” books to kids. Takes a little of the guilt out when I don’t have time to sit with Sasha. She loves it.
Lisa said,
February 19, 2010 @ 8:08 pm
Thanks for the suggestions, everyone – and I was wondering how to get Facebook comments on to the blog site, so that’s worked out really well, David.
As for Theo’s naps, Tanya, have you tried a white noise machine? We used it for many months in Aurora’s room when we were doing sleep training, and it did allow us to make a normal amount of noise while she was sleeping. Sasha, however, might make an abnormal amount of noise, so who knows?