The Naptime Grind
My second favorite time of day is when I first fetch the kids in the morning. Everyone is refreshed from a full night’s sleep, and smiles abound as I whisk them into the kitchen for breakfast. The kids are happy to start the day, and I’m happy to see them, anxious to see what they’ll discover today, and deliriously optimistic since they haven’t misbehaved that day, yet.
What’s my favorite time of day? Naptime.* I love my kids and wish we could spend every hour of every day playing and enjoying life together, but we don’t. They cry, scream, and howl for much of their wake time. Sometimes their displeasure is caused by me not feeding them fast enough, or daring to change a diaper. Other times their displeasure is merely directed at me because their Tasteeo dish is empty, someone fell down, or a dust bunny under the couch looked at them threateningly.
Sometimes, specifically 3:00pm every afternoon, we need a break from each other, or to put it another way, I need a break from them. I go through a detailed naptime routine, shut their bedroom door, and slink away to enjoy my first moments of quiet since the instant before the day’s deceptively joyous beginning.
Usually I take a nap, followed by detailed Internet research into spreads on sporting events until Abbie wakes up. Then I return to parenting, though only halfway since it’s just the oldest one. She gets a fruit snack and plopped in front of the television while I continue recharging until the boys awake. On some days, both or one of the boys, usually Ian, wake up with Abbie and I have to resume full-fledged parenting sooner, making supper while making sure no one plays with anything excessively dangerous. On other days, also known as “good days,” the boys keep sleeping and I keep doing my research.
Abbie is threatening to ruin my system, though. She usually takes some time to fall asleep, screaming at the closed door for a minute before retiring to bed in defeat. Then she sings, giving us both a chance to drift to sleep over the sound of her melodies as I listen over the monitor. Two days ago I drifted to sleep over the sound of her screeching, as she did not want to take a nap. I lost consciousness for maybe a couple minutes in between shouts. Around 3:30, I gave up and entered her room, taking her through a song-heavy condensed version of her naptime routine. It helped calm her down, and she was asleep a few minutes later.
Yesterday she again refused to fall asleep, and I again didn’t get much of a nap. I went back in her room about 3:30, and took her through the same condensed naptime routine. I left the room, shutting the door behind me, and listened to her scream while pulling on the knob as I walked away. By 4:00, it was clear she wasn’t going to nap, and she was going to keep the boys awake banging around the room. I let her out, plopped her in front of the television, and did some Internet research. This time I was trying to figure out how to force a two-and-a-half year old to nap. I didn’t have any luck finding forced-naptime information, although she did fall asleep in the car for about ten minutes while running errands last night. I hope my new favorite time of day never turns into the suspiciously quiet daily commute to and from the mall.
*Now that I think about it, the time after I set my screaming and exhausted children down for bed at night is pretty sweet too, so knock that morning thing down to number 3.
What’s my favorite time of day? Naptime.* I love my kids and wish we could spend every hour of every day playing and enjoying life together, but we don’t. They cry, scream, and howl for much of their wake time. Sometimes their displeasure is caused by me not feeding them fast enough, or daring to change a diaper. Other times their displeasure is merely directed at me because their Tasteeo dish is empty, someone fell down, or a dust bunny under the couch looked at them threateningly.
Sometimes, specifically 3:00pm every afternoon, we need a break from each other, or to put it another way, I need a break from them. I go through a detailed naptime routine, shut their bedroom door, and slink away to enjoy my first moments of quiet since the instant before the day’s deceptively joyous beginning.
Usually I take a nap, followed by detailed Internet research into spreads on sporting events until Abbie wakes up. Then I return to parenting, though only halfway since it’s just the oldest one. She gets a fruit snack and plopped in front of the television while I continue recharging until the boys awake. On some days, both or one of the boys, usually Ian, wake up with Abbie and I have to resume full-fledged parenting sooner, making supper while making sure no one plays with anything excessively dangerous. On other days, also known as “good days,” the boys keep sleeping and I keep doing my research.
Abbie is threatening to ruin my system, though. She usually takes some time to fall asleep, screaming at the closed door for a minute before retiring to bed in defeat. Then she sings, giving us both a chance to drift to sleep over the sound of her melodies as I listen over the monitor. Two days ago I drifted to sleep over the sound of her screeching, as she did not want to take a nap. I lost consciousness for maybe a couple minutes in between shouts. Around 3:30, I gave up and entered her room, taking her through a song-heavy condensed version of her naptime routine. It helped calm her down, and she was asleep a few minutes later.
Yesterday she again refused to fall asleep, and I again didn’t get much of a nap. I went back in her room about 3:30, and took her through the same condensed naptime routine. I left the room, shutting the door behind me, and listened to her scream while pulling on the knob as I walked away. By 4:00, it was clear she wasn’t going to nap, and she was going to keep the boys awake banging around the room. I let her out, plopped her in front of the television, and did some Internet research. This time I was trying to figure out how to force a two-and-a-half year old to nap. I didn’t have any luck finding forced-naptime information, although she did fall asleep in the car for about ten minutes while running errands last night. I hope my new favorite time of day never turns into the suspiciously quiet daily commute to and from the mall.
*Now that I think about it, the time after I set my screaming and exhausted children down for bed at night is pretty sweet too, so knock that morning thing down to number 3.
posted by Matt at
11:13 PM
1 Comments:
We've graduated to "quiet time" with my oldest. Which means I need to reschedule my showers because I can't do that during naptime anymore. Dang. I LOVE naptime.
By
Becky, at 11:22 AM
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