Ug, ug, ug. We are at that place and I know this place and it sucks to be honest. Let me begin by saying that Quinn’s naps are very important around here for many reasons:

a.) I enjoy the zen place I go to as I nurse her to sleep. I close my eyes, relax and swim in my head.

b.) There is a lovely shift in our home and I get a 1.5 to 2 hour break. Tyler and I hang out and relax doing various things - some days I just chill and stitch or knit. Other days I am working on dinner in the kitchen while he helps. Some days I am working on projects or whatnot and he weaves in and out playing alone and then checking in with me.

c.) Quinn still needs to nap.

d.) When Quinn doesn’t nap - everything goes to hell. The last two weekends she hasn’t napped. Tyler is a complete mess. He also is ready for that shift and break. And by the end of both weekends, Quinn was exhausted and it was evident Monday morning.

e.) I still have no idea what I will do when she drops naps. The way I would handle the situation now with her being only 2 is way different than if she was 3. We all need our break, but how to do that with both kids. I visualize and mull it over, but I haven’t any clarity around it.

Where we are now..

So I know this place because Tyler went through it. It is the phase where the toddler still needs that nap, but they take forever to wind down and give up the ghost. That daytime sleep though impacts bedtime, so they are not as tired at night and hence go to bed later. I still remember Chris so annoyed because it was taking an hour and sometimes more for Tyler to go to bed. Chris was thrilled when he dropped naps because getting Tyler to bed after lights out went from that hour or more down to 15 minutes, if not less.

Instead of 20 minutes at naptime, it is taking 30 to 40 minutes to get her to sleep. And that is usually 25 minutes of her being restless, talking to me, playing around. so I can’t zen out as well and start getting frustrated and subconsciously terrified that she isn’t going to nap. She also wants her naps so late which isn’t good for bedtime.

For now I just want to find a way to relax and get it back in my head that she WILL nap. Tyler I must say is so incredibly patient. I think that is part of the stress - knowing that Tyler is chilling in his room waiting. He sometimes listens to stories, but interest in that waxes and wanes. Maybe I will just start trying to get her down later and see if that helps things. Of course, then I have to watch her not sleeping too late.

At night, she is crashing at 9pm. It takes her about 40 to 50 minutes to go to sleep. Of course, that bedtime has her up at 8am which leads to a later nap and so it goes. I am trying to make sure she is up at 7:30am which sometimes helps.

Because i know how this all plays out, I am trying to just go with the flow. I would honestly rather us stay at this place for a while, then move to no naps. I am seriously NOT prepared for that transition. I am also thinking that Starbright might help a bit.

We will see what happens….Tyler dropped naps at 2 yrs 2 months, so we will see if she follows suit. I guess I better start getting creative. Maybe the universe is trying to warn me so I am not caught completely off guard??