Friday morning at 11:30 I got a call from Andrea that he had thrown up at daycare so I had to go pick him up. He was fine when I got there, so I brought him home and figured he'd play while I worked. Well, after about 30 mins I noticed he was quiet and glanced over to see this:
He hadn't slept well the night before so I wasn't surprised that he passed out like that. I was surprised that his nap only lasted 30 mins and then he was raring to go. On the plus side, that night we got him down to sleep at 9:00 with no resistance. He did wake up screaming at 10:30 and it made me fear that maybe he had an ear infection, but we got him down again and he slept until 8:00 the next morning.
Saturday we took him to the doctor just to get his ears checked because he wouldn't let me touch them and he said that they hurt (he lies). After an epic meltdown at the doctor we got the all clear that he was fine. So we went and did some shopping (black out curtains for his current room and a baby gate for his new room's doorway). He got in a 30 min catnap in the car on the way home. I tried getting him out and laying him down on his new bed, but within two mins he was up and running around. We went to meet some friends at Blackbeard's Cove (a little family amusement place) and he ran and played for hours. We went to dinner afterwards and didn't get home until 8:00. After a quick bath, milk, books and rocking he was in the crib with no protests and passed out for the night.
Sunday we stayed at home, but he was outside running around while J cut the grass and I picked the garden. We figured we'd keep him up for the day since he was showing no signs of slowing down. That is, until 4:30. He had been playing and jumping on the couch until he all of a sudden got quiet. That's when I found this:
He napped like that for an hour while J and I made dinner. I was just about to wake him up when he started stirring. He was in a good mood after his little nap and he went down that night at 9:00 with little fight.
Yesterday he woke up at 6:10 (we normally get him up at 7:00) and I had barely slept so I decided to work from home. Good thing since I got a phone call around 11:30 that he had thrown up again. I blame the fact that we all have this stupid summer cold and all the mucous running into his stomach is most likely aggravated by drinking milk. I went and picked him up and he was fine all day. I asked him several times if he wanted to lay down and he, of course, always said "No!". He did relax with me for a little while and found that his baby brother makes a good pillow:
I tried getting him to lay down with me in his new room, and he did for all of ten minutes, but then he was ready for playtime again.
Then 5:30 hit. He kept running into his room, trying to climb into the crib and shouting "I go to bed! I go to bed!". I felt so bad, but I couldn't put him down that early. If I did I knew he would be up by 4:00 AM. We did our best to distract him for a little while. He got an early bath at 6:00 and then we gave him a little something to eat (dinner is normally before bath). While he was sitting in his high chair he was struggling to keep his eyes open. I finally took pity on him and decided we weren't going to make the 7:00 goal. J took him in his room and read to him while rocking in the recliner. By 6:50 he was out like a light and into the crib. He made some noise at 5:00 this morning, but fell back to sleep until 7:00. 12+ hours of sleep - something that hasn't happened in quite some time.
So I guess if the past few days have taught me anything it's that he is not ready to get rid of naps altogether yet. I think we are good to shorten them, though, and 30-60 mins seems to be the magic time. He still needs to recharge his batteries a little every afternoon, but we don't want to let him get fully charged with a long nap. This parenting thing really is trial and error, huh?
getting rid of naps at 2? you are brave. T was still taking naps at 4. You'll need naps with that baby coming, having some mommy time. GL with all the changes. xoxo
ReplyDeleteI don't WANT to get rid of naps, but he has been fighting going to sleep at night so we thought we'd see what happens if he didn't nap. Trust me, I NEED that down time. He clearly can't make it all day without a little snooze so we just have to figure out timing.
DeleteI read somewhere that if your child sleeps 12-14 hours a night then they don't necessarily need a nap, but if it is less than they need sleep that gets them to that 12-14 hour schedule...for instance, only 10 hours of sleep, then a two hour nap is perfect! And I would say this holds true for my son. If he sleeps too long we don't do a nap, but less than the recommended 12-14 hours and we definitely do. I cannot make it through a day without him napping...and me for that matter too!
ReplyDeleteWe've had nights where he's only getting 9 hours at night because he won't go to sleep. He plays in there (or yells in there) for over an hour sometimes. We've had a little success with him only having an hour nap at daycare because then he goes straight to sleep at night and is getting closer to 11 hours. On vacation he barely napped and we were getting around 12 hours at night (glorious!).
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