An Afternoon Siesta

Recently Lily has transitioned to one nap a day, finally relinquishing her morning nap and taking one long afternoon siesta.  If I'm being honest, part of me misses my alone time in the morning. Like whoa.

However, what made me know she was ready was her.  She'd happily lay down late morning and fall asleep for a couple hours, but then she'd be Super CrankyPants {that's one of her superhero names} by mid afternoon until bedtime.  Like epic suppertime meltdown if she couldn't get her food quickly enough, get a bath and in bed.  The tough thing with that is it's still light out pretty late now. So, 6:30pm was rough.  Add an 8 year old who apparently needs 3925720428308 things equally as many times out of the bedroom which lead to equally as many wakeups for Lily, my happy baby was having a rough go of sleep. 

I tried a couple different combinations of having her nap a shorter time in the morning, then still having her nap in the afternoon.  That was an afternoon jumparoo in the crib for the duration and lots of, "Maaaaaaammmaaaaaaaa!" calling trying to sweet talk me into getting up.  Even though I recognize she still needed the down time, that combo wasn't working out for either of us.  She was still beyond tired by suppertime.

Finally, we tried skipping the morning nap all together and just trying an afternoon which has been totally working for her.  Andrew was a two-a-day napper well past two years old, but he was also a 6am riser until he was like 10.   I appreciate that the basics have worked for both of them and recognize they're two different people who have needed what works for them individually.

This new schedule of no morning nap had its whiny moments as the clock hit the noon hour at first.  Girl was ex.hausted!  But, the 3 and a half hours of sleepytime for her and downtime for me was heaven!  After some adjustments, we're successfully into a new routine that is working for her. She usually hits her wall about 12:00pm. If I say, "Lily, are you ready for lunch?" she heads to her highchair, "Eat. Eat. Mama. Eat."  She eats lunch, gets cleaned up and off to bed for a minimum of two hours, but usually three or so.  It's perfect and just like nearly everything with her, she transitions easily into what's next.

Yesterday during naptime, she apparently decided that she didn't want her arm in her jammies. {yes, most some days we spend the day in pajammies} then when realizing it, she didn't like it. I laughed.

Happy napping!

Transitions

I dread transition days.

    I personally don't have issue with change, per se.

However, I do dread the "stuff" that comes along with transition days in my life.

Reagan's days are Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Andrew's are after he visits with his dad...the few days following.

Andrew tends to be reactive and leans towards having meltdowns easily. 
Sometimes he's also a little mouthy. 
I have been dealing with his transitions since he was 2 1/2 years old.

I know what to expect and how to handle it.  Over the last few years, as he's gotten older, it's

been a shorter transition period because he's better able to verbalize what he's feeling.
An important part of the ease of his transitions is that his dad and I aren't attacking each other all the time.
We both know what's hard for Andrew regardless of what differences we may have.

Last night I asked Andrew if he ever wished he lived with his dad fulltime.

He sharply turned his head towards me and said, "Why?"

I said, "Because I was wondering about how you feel."

His reply, "Sometimes. Because I don't get to see him very much and I miss him."

I said, "I know you do. Imagine how that would be for a minute though, if you lived with your dad

instead of here."

He said, "Well, then I would just miss you all the time."

"Yeah, Andrew, it's just tough all the way around. I do know that."

"Mom, I think it would be harder if I lived there though because I have lived with you my entire life."

His dad is coming from Tennessee to visit this weekend for his hockey tournament.

Andrew is very excited and looking forward to the non-hockey time too. 

The transition time after the weekend, I am not looking forward to, but we will make the best of it, just as always.  It isn't the hard parenting I dread...it's the pain my son is in and I hate seeing him go through it.

~~~~

Reagan's transitions, on the other hand, occur twice a week.

Each Wednesday is a rough one initially.  She comes back home and dumps her garbage.

Some of it truthful, some of it not.

Also, there's an attitude.

Sometimes, it's mouthy, sometimes it's avoidance.

After the 1000 times of:  "Can I tell you something?" and the consistent routine of what Wednesday afternoon and night looks like week in, week out, the transition has ceased.

Thursday and Friday are normal.

Behaviors.

Attitudes.

Rules.

Routines.

Saturday mornings are just like Thursday and Friday.

Saturday early afternoon the transition begins.

The attitude changes.

Anxiety creeps in.

Clinginess.

Chattering just to make noise.

Clock watching and "oh I only have ___ much time left".

I dread it.

Now, as I've written about countless times, this little girl has been through a lot in her young life with custodial issues among others. 

We recognize these transition times in her life and do our best to keep things consistent and positive. 

She likes and craves the attention that drama creates, hence the non-truthful stories she tells.

We've explained that she simply makes things harder on herself when she does that.

Do I think it will stop soon? 

Not really.

Which is why I dread the transition days.

Today is a transition day...