I just don't get it. I know I've complained about this before, but my 18-month-old child somehow has the stamina to NOT nap. At all. It's one thing for him not to nap because we had guests around (who left yesterday) or because he has a stinky diaper and it keeps him from falling asleep. But today... there is no obvious reason. He seemed tired while he was eating lunch, we read a few books, and I put him to bed.
Now he's just tired and miserable, not falling asleep. And I am trying not to be frustrated. I kept hoping this was a phase, that he would go back to napping regularly any day now. And when he does nap, it's often long, three-hour naps. I can't fathom how I'm going to function when this new baby comes if Eli doesn't take a nap. I'm not sure how easy enforcing "quiet time" will be either with a child this young. He's not old enough to really reason with or give incentives.
UGH. It's supposed to snow in a few hours. It snowed a few days ago... I shoveled the back walkway from our house to the garage (because not shoveling would leave a slippery path for me to likely fall on going out to the car) and it completely wore me out in my 8-months-pregnant state. Ben came home that night and tried to shovel the front walkway, which was all ice by the time he was home from work, so that wasn't so great either.
I'm not looking forward to the cold, snowy winter ahead of us. Or the fact that Eli is going to be crabby the rest of the afternoon because he didn't sleep...
I'll just try not to be too grouchy! I'll have to post some happy pictures tomorrow to offset my negative post today :)
And to those of you who live in warmer climates, please don't rub it in. Just go outside and enjoy some sunshine for me!
5 comments:
Until I read your last comment I was going to say "Time to move to Houston!", but I won't now :-). I hope Eli starts napping again for you soon! Addie is kind of sporadic, but she'll play happily in her crib for hours if she has some books so I just leave her there for the length her nap should be. Does Eli cry when he's not sleeping?
I underestand completely! If Hayden doesn't nap (like the last two days) he is toast by 5:00. Just yesterday I was thinking "How did I work full time until Hayden was born?" I need him to nap so I can nap. If you find something that works please let me know. I need help too.
Oh, I'm so sorry! You're not alone, though! My 18-month-old doesn't nap, either. I need a nap more than my toddlers do! I'll tell you what we do (even though it's pretty bad parenting on my part--desperate times call for desperate measures!). After we drop Chloe off for kindergarten, I have all three of us lay down in my bed. I fix a movie and we lay down until the end of it. Sometimes people even fall asleep. It's the only way I can get through the afternoon!
I know exactly how you feel. You remember my constant agony at getting Adele to nap, or to even have one hour of quiet time. It was such a tearful struggle, that it ended up being better to forego all that and make her go to bed early (which she STILL does, at 7 pm she is in bed asleep!). The afternoon crabbiness was there for a few months. But the thing I gave into was letting her watch an afternoon movie at around 3 pm. And I figured the early bedtime makes up for the lack of nap. In those younger days of her life, I would sometimes (and still occasionally if she slept badly the night before) put her down as early as 6:30 or even 6 pm. Any earlier than 6 is a nap so it doesn't work. But after 6 pm, I could get her down for the night. And she would sleep until 7 am. So maybe a super early bedtime on those non napping days is an alternative. (It was the only thing that worked for us). You're not alone! It sounds like you have lots of friends with non napping toddlers!
Sara-
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