Pins & Needles

Well, I had to post about Koen's naptime. I didn't know what today would bring.

Last night I felt like I had to go into today with a plan to try and arrest some of the bad behaviors that were starting to unfold during this free play/downtime that Koen's afternoon nap was turning into rather abruptly. (By the way, didn't get to mention that at the end of naptime yesterday without warning, Koen wet himself and then called to me on the monitor to tell him what he had done...I was so defeated! We haven't had that happen in months!).

So, Doug and I discussed the situation, the patterns developing, the possibilities of what we could do, etc. We decided that I would wait to put Koen down for nap until right before Tavin's afternoon naptime. That leaves less time for him to be up there causing potential trouble (it's so frustrating, because some of the days when he hasn't napped he plays so well and other days he just destroys his room and tests all boundaries that exist in his room). The other thing we talked about was telling him not to turn his lamp on and that I would tell him that I would come up 45 mins. after he laid down to turn on his lamp and let him play (of course I wouldn't come up if he was asleep and quiet). This runs the risk of rebellion, but so does everything that I tell him to do throughout the day. It negates the issues though of him not understanding the time I tell him on the clock and then having to go up and reprimand him until he gets it right. I just feel he's a little young to totally understand timing like, "3;30" or "3:45." I do think though it might be tough for me to come in the room and then leave again, I'm guessing he will complain the first few times and want to come downstairs, but I do think he'll get over it and be OK and then I also think that eventually he would get used to that routine. Those two new approaches were all that we could come up with at the time, so that was my plan for today.

So, anyways, today... When we were leaving the museum he was really, really tired. It was starting to show that he hadn't napped in a few days. Then he actually told me he was going to take a long nap today (in the past he is actually quite accurate with these statements!). The whole drive home I was thinking over what I should do with the nap based on his tiredness and on our "great plan" from the night before. I decided to still keep him up until about the time of Tavin's nap. He ended up laying down a little after 2:30pm. He kept getting all wound up, so I was really afraid he wouldn't stay in bed, but he did as I left the room. I then went into Tav's room to lay him down. I figured that I would come out and hear Koen across the hall talking or possibly even see his light on, but neither was the case. I carefully tiptoed past his room and have been on pins and needles ever since (hence the very clever title of this post...ha!).

He has been quiet so far (it's now 4pm). I actually hope he doesn't sleep too long, but I'm so thrilled to see that he really needed a nap and he was able to still take one. I guess that this is going to be a day to day progression of dropping the afternoon nap. It's nerve-racking trying to read his signals and make the best arrangement to encourage rest if he needs it, but I'm going to keep trying. This afternoon is much less stressful than yesterday: not listening to him thrashing around, fearing he will wake up Tavin or need me to go up there to tell him what to do and not to do all afternoon was draining!

Thanks for the thoughts, prayers and help in the past few days regarding the new no nap routine we seem to be starting. I appreciate that I'm not the first mom that has ever gone through this. I have a lot to learn!