Life is so difficult when you're in limbo between naptime or no naptime. Kyan is in this weird sleep cycle lately. Some days he refuses to take a nap (and by refuse I mean 30-60 minutes of crying and fighting only to lay him down and have him wake back up), or he gets the 15 minute power nap and then spends the evening cranky, or he just doesn't take one at all and I let it go because I figure he'll just go to bed earlier at night. I'm realizing that he's the type of kid who can take or leave a nap because there's not really a happy medium with him. He's not really the type who if he doesn't have a nap he's just miserable to be around but he's not the type that sleep better with or without it either. Why is that?! Apparently my Mom thinks it another sign that the old adage "you reap what you sow" holds true. She thinks that because I was a fitful napper and she finally quit fighting me that now I'm getting paybacks for it, which really doesn't fullfil the "reap what you sow" thing, but I'm not arguing with her. I guess some people are a better mother than I because they have all types of comforting words like, "You should make him do it." Gee.. why didn't I think of that myself! I'll just MAKE him do it! Wow! Or then you have the mom who says, "Wow. I couldn't imagine. Jr. sleeps like a dream. He just passes out every day at noon and every evening at 7 and sleeps until 7 the next morning. We've never had a problem." Um.. yeah. I believe that. I also believe that in the next few days I'm going to wake up and gasoline is going to be $1.17 like it was when I was around 8. Dream on honey! What I really hate about the whole thing is that it gives some people the right to smirk and say "I told you to let him cry it out! He'll be fine!" and that's something I strongly disagree with. I don't care if I'm sitting there crying with him, he's not going to be crying alone! And not having a nap just makes him miserable the rest of the evening, especially during that 6-8 p.m. time period. Ugh! The whiney sensitive cuddle me but don't put me to sleep tantrums! You want to laugh and you want to be consoling, but he's just not having any of it! Tonight he got mad when I asked him not to wear Daddy's boots or my sandals and then promptly put them in the closet. It was like I'd told him that the President deemed Jello-Jigglers unconstitutional! I told him that he couldn't brush his teeth until after his bath and he melted down so fast it was scary! Crying in the bathtub for a toothbrush that I finally relented and gave to him. There he sits, one hand holding his rubber ducky, the other brushing his teeth, while I lather his hair. Life is so hard. So I think we'll battle on with the nap times until they're either accepted by him as part of his hard long day of playing and snacking, or we'll cut them out altogether and alter his whole bedtime routine. |
Sorry to disappoint, but some moms do have dream-sleepers, who sleep the high end of average for their age. I know, I had one.