I've seen the future...
...and its trousers are on upside down.
The world is revolving and I'm having trouble hanging on.
This is why:
PRESLEY HAS STOPPED HAVING AN AFTERNOON NAP!
I suppose I should count myself lucky that he has had an afternoon nap almost every day for two years and seven months.
But no more.
Can you tell, I'm almost in tears here?
I need to make some adjustments, not just in my daily routine, but also in my head.
I have to kiss goodbye to my me time. My ninety minutes of peace each afternoon. Bye bye blogging, ta ta Twitter, farewell Facebook and see you later secret chocolate scoffing.
No naps for Mummy either - not that I've ever had an afternoon nap, but now that option has been taken away I really want one. Ditto doing any housework in those ninety minutes!
I'm trying to look on the bright side. I can now have one-on-one time with Presley. We can do all of the things that are a bit advanced for Cash, such as painting, glueing, baking and counting coins - yes, Presley loves to play with money. He'll sit at the spare desk in Andy's office, move the mouse and tap away at the keyboard. He thinks he's working and asks for money so that he can buy bread and milk.
I knew the two boys having their afternoon naps together, at the same time, every day wouldn't last forever, but I hadn't realised how much I needed that daily break until it was gone.
My inbox is filling up with emails and my Google Reader is piling up with posts. I feel out of touch and out of the loop already. I'll still sneak online occasionally throughout the day and try to catch up in the evening.
It's not really the end of the world, but it's the end of a phase in Presley's life. My little boy is growing up.
What can I say, it was a sad, sad day when Maxi stopped napping, but he was 3 when it happened. I mourned its loss, like a member of the family, but he still needed quiet time, so we would snuggle of do quiet things instead.
ReplyDeleteIt's tough, Flea stopped napping at 20 months and I was sad, but it's interesting - her cousin napped all the way up to the age of 4. In fact, he still sometimes has a nap after school for up to 90 minutes.
ReplyDeleteBut the difference is this. Flea's cousin goes to bed at 7pm and sleeps until between 5.30 and 6am. Flea goes to bed at 6.30pm and sleeps until at least 8am, on the weekends it's more like 9.30am. So what you lose in the day, you'll gain in the evenings and as lie-ins. With any luck, at least!
I know when my youngest daughter stopped needing a nap, I was gutted - that was it for me time. I now do compressed hours at work so I can have six hours to myself on Mondays, and they are precious. Sadly I am still up way to late blogging, twittering and facebooking. I think nap time should be obligatory for everyone. One day I will live in a country with siesta....happy dream...
ReplyDeleteahhh nooooo - we panicked when at 18 months my little one seemed to not want a nap, but it was just a blip and now at 20 months she is back into them. Is there a local nursery that he can go to half a day a week to give you some spare time?
ReplyDeleteI'm dreading BG dropping hers, last week when she ill she stopped having naps for two days I was pulling my hair out
ReplyDelete"No naps for Mummy either - not that I've ever had an afternoon nap, but now that option has been taken away I really want one." Haha! (that's a sympathetic haha, of course.)
ReplyDeleteM was never much into napping: as a one year old, half an hour was usually her limit! She seemed to have a half-hour sleep cycle, so I took to making a noise around her 5 mins before the 30mins were up in the hope of interrupting that cycle and getting her to sleep a bit longer. By the time she was 16 months, my struggles were becoming a bit more fruitful - the problem being that it took 90 exhausting minutes for her to stop bouncing, singing, etc. and settle down for one hour's sleep. The golden era of that predictable one hour a day lasted just a few months ... Soon she went back to not giving in to sleep at all, or, worse, waking in such a screamy grump for the rest of the afternoon that I realised it'd better to ditch the nap altogether.
I remember wanting to weep with envy as other mothers talked about their two-hour window in the middle of each day when the baby was napping. I do wonder whether I'd have been significantly saner/less stressed if I'd had that "me" (or housework) time. We'll never know. :)
Bon courage Sandy!
It is really hard when you lose that 'me' time, and once itis gone it is amazing how youwant it back,but all the fun you will be able to get upt to with Presley will more than make up for it...and if mummy madness really starts to set in theres always a short dose of cbeebees
ReplyDeleteBaba is battling napping in the day, right now actually he has had a battle with me, but he is only 18months and he does need a nap. He cant cope through the day without one, and regardless of a nap or not he still wakes at 5.30/6am so it doesn't make any difference there he is just a grump for the day.
ReplyDeleteAaahhh, another sign of growing up. Must be hard to lose the time, don't know how I'd manage without nap time esp to clean up all the mess from meal time ready to start all over again!Some baking will be good tho and you can enjoy the cakes together!
ReplyDeleteI so feel your pain!
ReplyDeletemy eldest stopped at 2, while all his friends carried on napping. worst thing is he used to PRETEND he was going to nap just to get me to read him lots of books, i'd be there begging, trying not to fall asleep and he'd turn round and laugh at me saying "of curse i'm not sleeping mummy, let's P-L-A-Y!
my youngest hasn't slept for the past 2 days, but he's only 18mnths, so please if there's a god let it be a blip!
goood luck readjusting.
x
ohh I can so relate. All my kids have dropped their nap at about 2 years and it took some getting used to. In the end I found I was better not trying than getting stresed that they would not settle down and sleep!
ReplyDeleteLike you say, at least you cna enjoy the 1:1 time now. Mich x
The Mad House, I am in mourning too. Great idea about the quiet time. I have adopted that.
ReplyDeleteSally, we're lucky that they have both slept from 7pm-7am for quite a while, occasionally 7pm-8am, never until 9.30!
Muddy No Sugar, what a great idea, I love the idea of a siesta! :-)
The Moiderer, that's a very good idea and one that I'm going to look into. I'll still have Cash at home, but I suppose I could book Presley in for a couple of afternoon sessions!
New Mummy, I hope BG is better now. It's so tough, especially when you rely on that time to get anything done!
EmmaJane, that sounds tough, especially the time it took to get to sleep. Presley went through a phase of crying after naps. You don't know what to do for the best. I'm sure I'll get used to it.. eventually! x
ReplyDeleteLorraine, you're right. We're not big TV watchers, but it's amazing what an episode of Mister Maker can do! x
Kelly, it's hard when you know they really need to sleep, but they won't. That is an early start for you too x
Muma Talk, *whispers* I leave the mess on the splash mats and just clear it all up at night! x
Marketing to Milk, I do hope it's a blip! I'm struggling to keep awake during our quiet time. Once I'm in the armchair I'm nodding! x
Mich, I'm still trying by offering him a nap. If he says no then we do something else. I don't want to turn going to bed into a drama! x
I feel your pain, Hugo was about the same age when he started to drop his nap, but it has come back maybe 3 times a week. We have quiet time after lunch til 2:30/3pm read, watch a DVD & he will sometimes nod off. But yes it is a real OMG mummy moment! x
ReplyDeleteCheshire Mum, I've been trying quiet time this week and he has slept once. I wasn't prepared at all for this milestone!
ReplyDeleteMy daughter decided to drop her afternoon nap the day we bought her new baby sister home from the hospital, great timing it was not! Now we have the problem that she really does need a sleep still but refuses hence we have one crabby toddler by late afternoon!
ReplyDeleteRock & Roll Mummy, it's so tough when you know they need a sleep but they refuse to have one!
ReplyDelete