Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Just Say No (to nap time)

My Lulu. She's not quite 2. If you ask her how old she is, she'll tell you, "Wunanahaalph" (sound it out), but she's actually 1¾. She's not 2 yet, though, and so should not be ready to give up napping, right? Except she thinks she is.

I put her down yesterday at her usual time, and she snuggled under the covers like she usually does, and I left the room while she was still awake like I usually do. Usually she goes to sleep. Yesterday she sang the ABC's and the welcome song from school and "If You're Happy and You Know It." Quietly at first, then gradually louder until she was shout-singing. When that didn't get me back into her room she tried a different tactic. I think she was trying to break out of her room through the shared wall with the bathroom. BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!! "MOMMY! MAAHHMMEEEEEE!! INE ALL DONE!!" Except she wasn't because she hadn't even started. The banging was too much for me. I had to go in. "Lay down," I said. "It's nap time. You need to sleep." "No!" she said. "I no like that nap time." "Yes," I said. "Get under the blanket and I'll pat your bottom." She laid down and I put the blanket back and she said, "Patta bottum." So I did for a couple of minutes and then left again, and as soon as I closed the door she said, "AAAAAAAAA!! MAAAHHHHMMMEEEEE!!!" BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!! This went on for an hour and a half. I tried all sorts of different things, taking her sucky away, ignoring her, changing her music to something more peaceful, giving her the sucky back. What finally worked was patting her bottom until she stopped wriggling. Then I had to wake her up later so she'd be ready to go to bed at bedtime.

This wasn't the first time this happened recently, but it was definitely the most complicated.

Today I have a phone conference with the PTA VP right in the early-middle of Lulu's usual nap time. I guess we'll start the wrestling match earlier and I'll make sure she's asleep before I leave her room.

If she's going to learn to climb out of her crib, now is when it will happen, I bet...

1 comment:

Princess Sparkle Pants said...

Hmmm... maybe it is just something in the air? PH has become convinced that naps are for babies, too! And bedtime? Bedtime is not important, either! (except to his mommy...)

Related Posts with Thumbnails