Sorry to bore you all with my constant nap
issues, but part of the goal of this blog is to document stuff
the first time around, so we can review what worked and didn’t
for the second go-round. Right now naps, or the complete lack
thereof is the biggest thing going on around here. Lex is such
a sweet, friendly, helpful, fun kid — when he’s rested. When
he’s not… he’s miserable, defiant, fussy, and a general pain
in the butt. I love my sweet little boy and am not ready for
him to stop napping, despite his protests. Unfortunately you
can’t force a kid to sleep.

This week
we’ve been trying an AM nap instead of his usual PM nap. This
came about because he usually seems tired in the late morning,
so I was trying to get some lunch in him and put him down in
the early PM, but lately it seems like we’ve missed his peak
tired window and skipped right into fighting and crazy time. So
I’ve started giving him a snack and getting him in bed earlier.
So far this week we’ve had two AM car naps and two AM rests,
but no sleep in the bed yet. However, both AM nap attempts at
home have resulted in an hour of calm, peaceful reading in bed,
which is MUCH more than we’ve been getting at his PM nap time.
I’m going to try this for another few days and see if we can
get some sleep.

Another thought I had
this evening is perhaps he’s missing one-on-one time with me. I
know we’re together all day, but he doesn’t get much alone time
with me. I’m always busy trying to get stuff done (why the hell
won’t the house and bills and stuff take care of themselves??)
or tend to Eve or manage play dates or whatever. In the past he
never wanted to play with me, but lately he’s been asking me to
play with him a lot. He has also been getting more jealous of
Eve, pushing her off my lap, taking away her toys, etc.
Yesterday, every time I sat down he came over and sat in my lap
and called it a nest. At one point when Eve was in my lap, he
sat down with her and said “two babies in the nest.” And,
yesterday, for the first time ever, he asked to nurse! They say
it’s common when a new baby comes along that the first may want
to nurse again, but I don’t think they mean 8 months later!! I
was sitting on the floor with them and she was getting fussy so
I made a comment about having to nurse Eve soon. Lex came right
over, cuddled into my lap and said “want me to nurse you”
(pronoun confusion boy) I said something about him being a big
boy and drinking milk from a cup and he just nuzzled into me
and sat there for a minute. Then Eve rolled on the floor over
to Lex’s sippy cup and he jumped up to take it away and say “No
Eve!” :) Today I had a friend over all afternoon and Lex was
his normal no-nap defiant self. When she left and Eve went
upstairs for her nap, Lex got really sweet and cuddly and just
wanted to sit on the floor with mommy and do nothing. He fell
asleep in my lap in the recliner. So, maybe, just maybe he’s
feeling like he’s missing mommy time. Does that make sense that
it would impact nap time? We may have to start scheduling
one-on-one time with Lex. I always just assume my kids are so
easy and roll with life, but sometimes I forget their special
needs too.

So, those are my nap time
theories. Neither bodes well for my daycare baby starting soon.
Hopefully I can get him napping in the mornings this week or
next so when she starts full-time the following week I’ll have
a happy toddler.