When Tories Don't Nap
Tory woke from his afternoon nap today at 4:30. That’s an hour before he should.
Despite my several months of child-rearing experience, I never know what to do when they wake up very early from a nap. If I pull him from bed, I risk disrupting his sleep pattern, and likely face a tired and cranky little man for the rest of the night. If I leave him to roll in the crib and hope he falls back asleep, I risk him waking up the other two children who should be napping. Usually, I just keep sitting at my computer and hope things resolve themselves without me having to leave my Diet Coke and a slowly loading ESPN.com.
I tried the wait and hope technique for about five minutes, and listened to his screams grow more insistent as he tried to convince me that he was fully refreshed. His screeches were the only ones coming over the monitor, so I decided to sneak him out of their room before the other two woke and joined him.
I quietly opened the door to their room, just in case a door’s creak would do the job that Tory’s complaints failed to do. The other two were still asleep, Ian on his tummy with his legs curled under him, and Abbie on her back with her blanket pulled over her face. Tory was sitting upright, staring at the door, anticipating his rescue. I walked to his crib, staring at his eyes, dreading the rest of the night.
I don’t know how he can’t be sleepy. He still has a cold, and needs his sleep. Plus, he’s learning the essential life skills, things like walking, talking, and separating objects into “edible” and “non-edible” categories. That must be more exhausting than the monotonous manual labor that wears me down every day. It wore Ian down as he was still sleeping. It wore Abbie down as she napped more than he did today, and Abbie already has already mastered the walking and separating objects skills, though she likes to taste-test things frequently just to be sure.
I pulled him to the computer with me while his siblings continued sleeping. I had to hold him to keep him from wandering into forbidden areas, like the cable abyss behind the computer, which limited my work. I had to type in web addresses with one free hand. I had to bring snacks to my mouth quickly enough that he wouldn’t notice them and knock them on the floor trying to grab them. His presence sapped my concentration, preventing me from writing, so I’d have to throw together a half-baked blog post later in the night.
We had to go out after supper, and I was sure he’d fall asleep in the car. The boys have been doing that recently with their colds; they wake up early with a nose full of snot, and catch up on their sleep by drifting off for five minutes in the car.
We reached our destination without anyone falling asleep. On the way back we had a little man asleep in the back seat within ten minutes. Unfortunately, it was Ian. Tory was still wide-awake, staring at us in hopes that we’d rescue him from his five-point harness, and occasionally complaining to ensure we were still aware of his presence.
As soon as we arrived home, I gave everyone their bedtime milk. Abbie took hers, sucked it down, and went to work on her duck pond toy. Ian took his, quickly dropped it on the ground, and found Abbie’s instead. When he realized it was empty, he dropped it on the ground as well, and went to work on his riding car. Tory took his, realized that he’d have to work to sip milk from the sippy cup, and started screaming. That screaming lasted almost continuously until he went to bed 45 minutes later. Napping may be an essential life skill that he needs to learn.
Despite my several months of child-rearing experience, I never know what to do when they wake up very early from a nap. If I pull him from bed, I risk disrupting his sleep pattern, and likely face a tired and cranky little man for the rest of the night. If I leave him to roll in the crib and hope he falls back asleep, I risk him waking up the other two children who should be napping. Usually, I just keep sitting at my computer and hope things resolve themselves without me having to leave my Diet Coke and a slowly loading ESPN.com.
I tried the wait and hope technique for about five minutes, and listened to his screams grow more insistent as he tried to convince me that he was fully refreshed. His screeches were the only ones coming over the monitor, so I decided to sneak him out of their room before the other two woke and joined him.
I quietly opened the door to their room, just in case a door’s creak would do the job that Tory’s complaints failed to do. The other two were still asleep, Ian on his tummy with his legs curled under him, and Abbie on her back with her blanket pulled over her face. Tory was sitting upright, staring at the door, anticipating his rescue. I walked to his crib, staring at his eyes, dreading the rest of the night.
I don’t know how he can’t be sleepy. He still has a cold, and needs his sleep. Plus, he’s learning the essential life skills, things like walking, talking, and separating objects into “edible” and “non-edible” categories. That must be more exhausting than the monotonous manual labor that wears me down every day. It wore Ian down as he was still sleeping. It wore Abbie down as she napped more than he did today, and Abbie already has already mastered the walking and separating objects skills, though she likes to taste-test things frequently just to be sure.
I pulled him to the computer with me while his siblings continued sleeping. I had to hold him to keep him from wandering into forbidden areas, like the cable abyss behind the computer, which limited my work. I had to type in web addresses with one free hand. I had to bring snacks to my mouth quickly enough that he wouldn’t notice them and knock them on the floor trying to grab them. His presence sapped my concentration, preventing me from writing, so I’d have to throw together a half-baked blog post later in the night.
We had to go out after supper, and I was sure he’d fall asleep in the car. The boys have been doing that recently with their colds; they wake up early with a nose full of snot, and catch up on their sleep by drifting off for five minutes in the car.
We reached our destination without anyone falling asleep. On the way back we had a little man asleep in the back seat within ten minutes. Unfortunately, it was Ian. Tory was still wide-awake, staring at us in hopes that we’d rescue him from his five-point harness, and occasionally complaining to ensure we were still aware of his presence.
As soon as we arrived home, I gave everyone their bedtime milk. Abbie took hers, sucked it down, and went to work on her duck pond toy. Ian took his, quickly dropped it on the ground, and found Abbie’s instead. When he realized it was empty, he dropped it on the ground as well, and went to work on his riding car. Tory took his, realized that he’d have to work to sip milk from the sippy cup, and started screaming. That screaming lasted almost continuously until he went to bed 45 minutes later. Napping may be an essential life skill that he needs to learn.
posted by Matt at
11:50 PM
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