Today my two year old decided that she wasn’t taking a nap. Unlike other “no nap days”, I decided not to fight this one. I realize that arguing with her about not taking a nap for two hours makes me more angry and tired, so today I let her skip it. Mistake #1. Now, it is 7pm and I am paying the price.
The only thing I really wanted to do today was take a nap myself. Our 7 month old is teething again and she woke me up at 4:30 this morning. She nursed for the next two hours, but never really did settle down before our toddler came bounding into our room announcing “I’m AWAKE!!” and joyfully jumped into our bed and snuggled up on the other side of me. There I was, sandwiched in between the two sweetest girls, wishing I could just get a few more winks.
Despite it being Sunday, and the day we were supposed to go on a day trip to celebrate my birthday, my husband was heading into work, which meant that I was on baby duty…again. As nap time came and went, my daughters and I played and cleaned and cleaned and played. Around 3pm, I thought it might be nice to go somewhere. My oldest chose Barnes and Noble. Mistake #2.
My husband was planning to pick up some takeout on the way home. As I sat in the B&N parking lot looking up the menu for the BBQ place, I didn’t notice that my daughter had fallen asleep. I woke her up to see if she still wanted to go in the store. Yup. Mistake #3. She did pretty good in the store, all things considered. That is until it came time to check out and then she was gone.
Yes, I was partially being selfish because we have two baby birthday parties coming up and I needed to get the gifts. I should have just backed out of the parking spot and drove home. Why oh why do we do these things to ourselves against our better judgement? Getting the two gifts was not worth all the screaming and frustration of tonight’s bedtime saga but it sure does feel good to know that it is done.
But in all honesty I fear that this may become our new normal sooner rather than later. I have watched the nap times dwindle on her daily reports from school and I am seeing the time she goes down for naps at home creep later and later. I still stick to my routine and give it a try every day. Sometimes I am rewarded with a 3 hour nap and other days like today I try to roll with it. I guess it’s all part of them growing up. But damn, I am going to miss that nap!
Unfiltered Mommy 