Tuesday, January 20, 2009

An update...

It's been a while since I've posted, and I didn't want you to think that the napping strike had done me in. Thankfully, I'm stronger than that!

Actually, the strike lasted about a week or two - it's a blur now. Monkey has finally settled into something resembling a routine again, and is napping consistently in the early afternoon, without nearly as much fussing (although a little protest here and there, just to keep Mommy on her toes). Sadly, his total nap time is still only half of what it used to be, which means less time for me to play around on the computer, not to mention do more productive things. But kids grow up, and he wasn't going to sleep forever. Besides, how much fun is that?

So, we've been trying to fill our extended days with new activities, and I will freely confess that I am stealing liberally from my on-line mommy friends, particularly since the cold (more like ridiculously frigid!) weather limits our ability to get out of the house as much as I'd like. We've bought some new art supplies, and I'm hoping to turn the time between lunch and nap into a quiet "sit at the table and do crafts" time, instead of the current "running around the house and chasing the dog and throwing toys and tripping and falling" time. We'll see if Monkey agrees...

I'm also trying to implement some semi-educational activities into our day. To echo a sentiment raised by more than one of my mommy friends, I'm having some "mommy guilt" over the fact that I seem to spend very little time interacting with and teaching Monkey, and most of my time just trying to keep him from hurting himself or the dog. I know that he's picking up on new things, both at home and at day care, but a little more effort on my part couldn't hurt. So, I've been looking at things like flash cards for shapes, colors, etc. Again, for all I know, Monkey will have zero interest, but it's worth a shot! Hopefully I'll be able to post about new accomplishments soon...

Monday, January 5, 2009

The Great Nap Strike of 2009

I'm beginning to realize just how lucky I was...

Monkey has been a GREAT sleeper! Really, I've had very, very few complaints. He started sleeping through the night right around 4 months, and I can probably count on one hand the number of times I've had to get up during the night with him since. Oh, he'll wake up from time to time, and sometimes he'll even cry, but it's amazing how often it only lasts for a minute or two and he goes right back to sleep.

He's been a great napper too. For as long as I can remember now, we've had the same schedule, more or less - two naps a day, one from about 10:30 - noon, and the other for 1 1/2 - 2 hours sometime between 2:30 and 6pm. It's been awesome - Mommy could shower during the morning nap, and get other stuff done, including work, in the afternoon.

And, perhaps best of all, we could brag to our family and friends about how well he went to bed. Almost as if on cue, Monkey would say "night night?", at which point I'd say "night night?" and he'd either (a) run to the bottom of the stairs and wait to be taken up, or (b) run to me to carry him up. We'd say night-night to Daddy, any visitors, etc., and Monkey would lay his head on my shoulder and give me a sweet hug as we went upstairs. I'd set him in his crib, where he'd take his paci, and then off with the lights and off to sleep - no fuss.

Well, needless to say, there's a reason this is all written in the past tense. Tor almost a week now, all schedules and routines have gone out the window. Monkey has decided to change up the game plan, only he's not telling us what the new one is...

We had a bit of a preview over the holidays, when we were traveling and his sleep got disrupted, but upon returning home, all was seemingly back to normal. Until last Wednesday - New Year's Eve. It's as if he wanted to do something significant to mark the start of a new year... It started with fussiness going down for naps, turned into refusing to take some naps at all, branched into fussiness at bedtime, and, most recently, took a whole new turn with an early 4am wake-up call. Mommy is TIRED.

I realize that the two-nap schedule couldn't last forever, and I'm willing to accept that, even if it does mean finding a new time to shower, possibly before I'd like to otherwise get myself out of bed in the morning... But isn't the remaining one nap supposed to become LONGER to make up for some of the lost sleep? Instead, it's gotten shorter, maybe an hour, if we're lucky, and often not without much protesting. When I say "night night?", Monkey now shakes his head at me, saying "no." When I put him in his crib, he immediately gets up on his feet and starts yelling. If I'm lucky, it lasts less than five minutes. If I'm not, it lasts until I'm afraid he's going to burst something, and we get up and wait to see if we can try again later.

This has to be temporary, right??? Surely my awesome sleeper can't have developed an overnight aversion to or lack of need for sleep?