Nap time woes.

I’m pretty lucky to have a child who loves to sleep. A comfortable secure sleep is something we have always put importance on and fostered for him with co-sleeping and gentle go to sleep methods, never letting him cry to sleep, it may be something to do with that, or it may just be his temperament, who knows. But I feel lucky for it. I remember fighting bed time and naps, I’ve taken care of enough kids who hated to nap or sleep. This was just something I didn’t want to fight every night with my own child. SO I’ve worked hard at that.

He will wake at night frequently, still at 2 years old (Uhg!) But the wakings are less and less frequent, so I don’t make too much issue of it, and these awakenings are something we have expected when we took on our go to sleep methods.

At night he fusses mostly that he woke up at all and settles back down rather quickly. He loves bed time and nap time and will often declare it so he can go lay down. Nap time and bed time fights are a rarity with him. I can spend 5 or 10 minutes with him in his bed, give his goodnight kisses and leave the room and he puts himself out in five minutes or less.

I know many mothers ( and fathers) have a fight many nights for their kid to go to bed. It could still come to me, I’m not naive, but for now I feel lucky it’s this easy – USUALLY.

Naps are still a huge part of his day; lots of kids will drop naps all together around two years old or take micro naps of 30 minutes Aedan still goes down faithfully for at least 2 hours sometimes three, I’m sure this makes up for the night time waking as I’m able to accomplish many other things for myself and my home in this time.

When something goes right everyday, you get used to it. You don’t even notice how good you’ve got it. That is, until something goes wrong.

That would be today’s nap time.

He hadn’t declared nap time at his usual time today so I waited about 30 minutes and declared it for him.

I took him up to his bed, and he didn’t get that relaxed sleepy look he usually puts on his face. No, not today, he was smiling ear to ear, and making funny noises and funny faces – not a good sign.

I read him an extra book, and tucked him extra tight.

And he called me back up. He wanted his water.

I went back downstairs…. I heard him start jumping on the bed.

Back up I went with my “Mad mommy” face on to show I was serious about nap time and not being impressed with his jumping, which brought him instantly to tears. He was feeling extra touchy today, and he was tired. I tucked him back in and he said he was going to sleep.

I went back downstairs… 5 minutes pass, silence. He must be asleep YES

I pass the monitor by again 10 minutes later and he is counting and singing “ you are my sunshine” to himself… *sigh* At least he’s trying to put himself to sleep.

Another 10 minutes pass and then he’s yelling “Baby-Aedan” need a mommy!”
( Instead of “I” he refers to himself as “Baby-Aedan”)

I march up the steps being sure that my steps sound firm as they fall on each one ( the mean mommy act) I open the door and he’s standing in the middle of the bed with his arms outstretched for a big hug.

It’s hard to deny this attention. He’s so stinking cute… but it’s near an hour since this “nap time” adventure began. I mean business. This child WILL sleep.

I tell him “Time to lay down!”

I scoop him up; lay him down tuck the blanket firm up to his chin. He gets that this was business, closes his eyes so tight and tries to sleep.

I tell him “ No talking, no playing, Keep your eyes closed – GO to SLEEP! Mommy all done coming upstairs”

I leave the room, and go downstairs

I’m silently so frustrated. I worry when our routines get messed up as it can unravel his behavior for a few days. I’m naturally an anxious person so this leads to the “stress” of repairing this nap time gone wrong.

10 minutes pass and I hear him start to sob. We always go to him when he cries. This is very important to us and has never lead us wrong. There is always a reason for tears. I told him I was all done coming upstairs… but I had to go back on that.

I stepped firmly up the stairs again. He stopped crying but I was still going to him.

As I opened the door I asked “ Aedan, Why are you not napping?!?”

… and he is now standing on the bed back to me looking over his shoulder, and sticking out his fluffy cloth diapered bum and pointing to it..

“Mommy , Baby-Aedan got poopy mess in there!”

I suddenly get hit with a familiar stench

Sure enough he must have pooped 4 days of meals all at once.

I know he couldn’t sleep now because his tummy had business. More than an hour to go down to sleep because of POOP! Being a parent, sometimes it feels it’s always about poop.

I changed his bum. And as soon as I opened the bathroom door to let him out, he ran to the bed, crawled in, pulled the sheets to his chin and declared “Nap time!”

He looked sleepy finally.

I kissed his head, closed the door. And he was out in 2 minutes.

- phew, I’m glad there was a REASON to this nap time madness.

Chicken

This morning at 6:30 we were all awoken by the sudden and sharp cries of my son screaming “Chickeeeeeeeen NEED CHICKEN!!”

A little disgruntled at it being morning I realized I wouldn’t be going BACK to sleep at this point I told him. “we don’t eat chicken nuggets in the morning, but we can have cereal, or waffles or yogurt”

He continued to wail.

I Hadn’t fed him chicken nuggets in at least 2 weeks, they are a favorite food of his. I got them for him last night for dinner, he had been eating like a horse yesterday, and in times of other growth spurts and eating frenzies, chicken has been requested at 2 in the morning.

Now I was now regretting giving him chicken nuggets for dinner, some of his foods form a one food obsession. My day was starting with the stress of breaking him of his addiction and dealing with the aftermath of a toddler coming detoxing off his favorite food.

He continued to wail … for chicken.

He paused mid wail and coherently stated “ Where chicken go?” I told him “ You ate it for dinner last night, it went in your tummy – He said “ No THAT chicken – NEED . HUG. CHICKEEEEEEEEEEEEN!!!!!” and broke down in sobs again.

It dawned on me – maybe he didn’t wake up hungry for food….. maybe he’s just annoyed he woke from a good dream.

“Aedan, did you dream a chicken?”

“ YES! Where gooooooo??? “ he was now controlling his sobs and wore a huge pout , snotty nose, and his eyes were welled up with big fat tears.

I had to tell him it was a dream, The chicken wasn’t real, it was like playing a video in his head when he sleeps. I told him it looks and feels real, but it was just a dream.

I have to wonder if all those other times he woke screaming for chicken in these past months was for food , or if this chicken is a frequent guest of his in his dreams, but he didn’t have the language to express them.

I comforted him by telling him he can visit his chicken at night time and in naps.

That calmed him right down , and he started to tell me his Chicken was Red, it played trains with him, he hugged it, he pet it, it played in his play kitchen with him, and he cuddled it in bed. He showed me it was as tall as his waist, its name was “Happy” and it said “O buck o buck o buck” ( different from farm chickens that say “Bock bock bock”

I was startled from my bed this morning, but I sit in awe again, of my boy , he dreams, he talks, he loves. I’m amazed at how he has grown.