Friday, December 1, 2006

Nap time in our house

Nap time with Jack has, for the most part, been a breeze. I worked when he was 3-8 months old, so I don't quite remember how his naps were back then, but since he was about 1 ish, he has gone down for a nap after lunch and slept for approximately 2 hours, sometimes less, sometimes more. Of course there are the days where he'll pull a 3 to 3 1/2 hour nap; then there are the days that he'll come downstairs after an hour claiming, "Mommy, I'm all done sleeping." Knowing good and well he never went to sleep. I feel lucky that at three years of age he still naps every day; many of his friends don't nap at all anymore. I guess I should take what I can get huh?

Now, our precious little Riley Monroe is another story. The word nap doesn't exist in her world unless it has the word cat in front of it: catnap. Unfortunately, she is a catnapper. If the word kittynap existed, she would epitomize it. Her naps range from 10 minutes to 45 on a good day, unless we are in the car for a long time. It drives me INSANE!!!! I don't know how a 5 month old can function like she does, and for the most part remain happy through the day.

Today, for instance she woke for her first feeding of the day at 5:15, guzzled almost 6 ounces and then went back to sleep until 7ish. We leave to take Jack to preschool at 8:45, zip into Walmart and head home. She fell asleep in the car a few minutes before we got home and then woke up right after I brought the bags in, typical. She fell asleep again in the car on the way to pick up Jack for about 10 minutes. I thought, sweet, she's got to be EXHAUSTED, I bet I can get them down for a nap at the same time today and take a quick snoozer myself.

WRONG!

I stuff her with a bottle, put her down and then put Jack down. She babbles in her crib for 15 minutes and starts crying. (Yes, I let her cry herself to sleep during the day. It hurts, but gotta do it.) She's still crying, Jack comes out of his room, "Mommy, Riley is keeping me awake!" UGH- I stuff a paci in her mouth, she passes out. Cold. Jack's asleep. Mommy's asleep.

Guess what- exactly 28 minutes later- I hear her babbling away! So here we are, it's 2:10 in the afternoon and Riley has been awake since 7ish with less then an hour of sleep. The sad thing is, is that she might snooze for another 30 minutes this afternoon and that's it. So she's playing in her saucer as I type, maybe that thing will tire her out!

Thank God she goes to bed at 6:00 at night~ until next time...

1 comment:

PaaPaa (Pat) said...

Yes indeed....this little precious child does not like to day sleep. When I babysit I try very hard to get her and Jack to sleep in the afternoon at the same time....NOT!! Thanks goodness for Alison that she goes to bed early early.....It will be interesting to see how she handles taking a nap when she is a little bit holder. She will not be the same as Jack who naps like a jewel and never gives Mom a hassle....:)

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