Thursday, February 14, 2008

Where Have All the Naptimes Gone?

It's my own fault. I didn't appreciate it when I had it. How does the song go, "Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone..."



If only I had known, I wouldn't have stood over your crib, begging you to wake up...



It was too late that I learned my new philosophy. "Let sleeping babies lie!"



I think one of the naps is being phased out. I've been very spoiled by Lance. At 14 months, he still takes both a morning and an afternoon nap. Each nap is between an hour and a half and two hours. I'm one lucky mama.

Not so the last few days. He's still taken two naps, but each day they grow shorter and shorter. It seems like he is on the verge of phasing out a nap.

There are upsides to this. I have more freedom to do things during the day. My schedule does not revolve around naps as much as it used to. Also, on the days in which he has napped less, he has gone to bed earlier. Tonight he went down at 8:00, a full hour earlier than usual. He was so exhausted, I didn't dare keep him up just for the sake of enforcing a bedtime. (I just pray he doesn't wake up an hour earlier tomorrow morning!! I can wake up any time as long as the sun is already up. An hour earlier than his current wake-up time will still be dark, so that just won't work.) Along with growing out of naps, Lance is growing more and more independent, so I can do things that before I could only do while he slept. Thus, his lack of sleep is not as detrimental as it would have been.

But oh, how I shall miss those two long naptimes during the day!

Whenever baby #2 comes along, I will make sure to rejoice in every single minute of napping that occurs.

There are just so many things I would do differently if I had only known...

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jake phased out of his 2 naps around this age. Actually, I can't even remember the 2 nap days any more at all. It seems like there's always just been an afternoon nap and some days that's difficult. Good luck with the transition. I know that a tired baby is not a happy baby.

Anonymous said...

Wow! Two naps at 14 months is amazing. Harry gave up his second nap at 9 months. I was actually happy when he did that because with the way the nap schedule was with two kids some days there was a child napping almost all day.

Anonymous said...

Naps are a blessing for sure! BTW, Chris looks so precious in all the photos!

Anonymous said...

Two naps at 14 months! You lucky girl. My kids stopped napping ALTOGETHER by 16 months. Every single one of them.

Anonymous said...

I am blessed to have an excellent napper. And an excellent night-time sleeper.

We're only at eight months now, though...who knows what will happen by fourteen? ;)

Anonymous said...

I really like the switch to one naps. But it is the one nap to no naps that I am dealing with at my place with Hadley.

And it will be the saddeset day of your life. :)

Anonymous said...

14 months and still taking two naps, wow!

I remember when Laurel was taking two naps and Ian only had one (of course they didn't nap at the same time), it seemed like someone was always napping during part of the day and I could never leave the house. Eventually I wised up and somehow made one of their naps coincide, otherwise how else could I get anything done?

Losing that second nap, oh yes, I feel your pain.

Anonymous said...

My Mother always said it's a shame that there has to be a "first". In some ways I agree. Those pictures are just precious. Don't you LOVE how sweet and peaceful they look when they sleep???

Hoping you're getting some rest and that Lance's schedule change is going well.

Hugs,

Susan

Anonymous said...

Gosh, was he really that little?!

When Fly phased out his morning nap shortly before 12 months, I thought I was doomed. But I actually like having just the afternoon nap. I used to feel I was always planning things around when he might possibly perhaps could maybe nap.