It’s the end of the afternoon as I know it and it’s NOT fine…..
Nap time. It’s one of my favourite times of the day. Both kids are asleep giving me the opportunity to pee without someone climbing on me, eat food without shoving it into my mouth, drink an entire glass of water instead of a sip, sit down for a few minutes, do laundry without a child needing my attention, talk to the phone to a friend without background noise and clean up from meals past.
For sometime now, Princess Peach has pushed the boundaries around taking a nap. First she wanted a story before nap time, then it was cold water in a sippy cup, then it went to watching Max and Ruby on the iPad. You see where this is going right? Then finally napping in my bed. Whatever works to get her to sleep right? There have even been a few days when she has resisted and not taken a nap.
I knew the dreaded days were near but I didn’t realize how close they were.
Princess Peach’s bedtime has gotten progressively later to the point where she is sometimes awake at 8:30 pm or 9:00 pm and all The Hubster and I want her to do is fall asleep. We both secretly will her to sleep because we just want some downtime to ourselves. Last week Princess Peach had an entire week of late nights which I knew was attributed to her nap.
I’m sad. I’m not going to lie. I love my quiet time in the afternoons. Some days the kids only overlap their naps for 30 minutes and I’m totally ok with that! But now, we are going to sadly drop her daytime nap. She’s gonna want to play but I’m thinking of creating a quiet time type of box with some crafts that she can do herself and do quietly. Not sure exactly what I’ll do but I need to keep her quiet so Little Dude can nap and keep her occupied so I can pee and drink some water!
So my dear old friend nap time, I’m sad and so sorry to see you go. On those days when she does need and want to take a nap I will relish every single quiet second I get. And on those days that she doesn’t I hope I will have the patience to deal with a potentially cranky toddler and have a cold bottle of wine waiting for me in the fridge to drink at the end of the day!
How old were your kids when they dropped their nap? What did you do during their nap time instead?
My son who just turned 3, dropped his afternoon nap for the most part back in December. He still has some occasions where he will fall asleep during a car ride around nap time. I miss it, in part for that little me time, but mostly because he can be a little cranky as he does need a nap to be a little more cheerful and less moody in the late afternoon/early evening. When baby is napping (2x a day), I try to get him to do something quiet, like a puzzle, stories, kid board game etc (this also works well as little girl isn’t trying to take pieces from the puzzle or the game and gum them). I find it less frustrating for myself to not even try naps with him now. Good luck Renee!
Delacey Have you tired just laying him down the same time everyday to take a nap even if he just lays there and doesn’t sleep? that’s what i do with my daughter shes 5 and still napping!
What time is she going down for nap? Maybe make it a tad earlier or start cutting the nap short and making sure she is awake by 3pm so she can go to bed by 8pm.
I feel your pain! When I went back to work part-time last September, I was looking forward to hours of time to myself every afternoon to write etc. Turns out that my JK’er had different plans and dropped his nap the first week of school. I moved his bedtime earlier to cope with the transition as most late afternoons he’s more than a little cranky! Good luck, mama!
Thanks Sara! So far we’ve only had a few successful days without a nap! We just got back from being on vacation and she begged to nap while we were away! It’ll be interesting how this week unfolds!
I have a 4 year old son who stopped napping at 3.5 years old. My 10 month old son is, thankfully, still napping twice a day but because my older son is 1/2 day Kindergarten, I have to wake up the baby to go pick him up at 11:30 a.m. SUCKS! I will miss the first nap when he decides he only needs one nap soon.
I know friends who can definitely relate to you!