RIP Naps

Mark this moment: I think we are really seeing the end of the nap for Zeke. I knew it might be coming soon, as so many of my friend's older children stopped napping at 3. We may still squeeze out a few more naps, especially on busy days, but we have gone almost a whole week without a nap and skipped most naps the week before. Sometimes, we will still go through the nap routine and have "quiet time" which is not nearly as satisfying as getting him to nap. However, even when he was taking naps a week ago, he would still be grumpy at the end and often want to nap so late that it would interfere with dinner and the evening routine.

The upside of this (I'm looking for silver linings) is that the day can be more flexible if we don't have to be home at naptime and the day can be structured just a little more loosely. The obvious downside is that Zeke was a pretty good napper and I liked having that time. Also, I didn't worry about how much sleep he was getting a day, because between his nap and nighttime sleep, I think he got enough. Now we are trying to adjust his bedtime to be earlier and it is a challenge for all of us.

And, as his apparent need for naps has disappeared, mine has skyrocketed. I become zombie-like and exhausted around 3:30 and often need to nap for about 2+ hours. (So, scratch the part about not having to schedule my day around naps. Good bye, silver lining!) This usually bumps into the time that I should be preparing dinner, so we more than a few times recently we have had to frequent our local eateries if we wanted anything of a decent meal. It is nice to take a nap, but a drag to lose that time and even more of a drag if I have a 3 year old who wants me to get up and play "bear" with him and won't let me nap. I'm tinkering with my diet to see if it helps, but I am sleeping so lightly at night that I don't know that changing my diet will make too much difference.

(I did have a photo of me that Zeke took to accompany this post, but decided that it might be held against me if posted. The other day Zeke said he would nap if he could sleep in my bed. Of course, I fell asleep and he didn't and took my picture with his camera that he proudly showed to me later that evening. I don't need photographic evidence of my negligence for DFACS/CPS.)