Naptime Battles

Kallen and I have recently hit a "rough patch" in our daily schedule. Up until recently his sleeping schedule has been:

• wake up around 7am
• morning nap from 9-11
• afternoon nap from 12:30-3:30
• go to bed anywhere from 7-8pm.

Do you see the, oh so very narrow, gap that left me to go anywhere outside of our house without a cranky child? Most mornings I would just risk it and run around anyways, but never without complete meltdowns at numerous locations. While this schedule made things inconvenient for me- I came to the conclusion that if my child needed that much sleep for a season in his life, then that was something I was willing to work around. So I run most of my errands in the afternoon, and sometimes do what I have to in the mornings.

Last week I started to notice a shift in Kallen's schedule. I knew we were probably at the age where he only needed one nap/day but he was always so cranky without that morning nap, that I just let him have it. Last week his morning naps started to get shorter, and shorter, and on top of that he began to fight his afternoon naps. I would try to put him down after lunch like I normally do but he would stand in his crib and cry and cry until finally after 45min-an hour I would finally go get him. The results were usually a very cranky boy and mommy for the rest of the afternoon. By 6:30 he would be ready for bed and it was all I could do to get him to make it to 7. I reached my limit when yesterday he decided he didn't need to nap at all. Our entire day yesterday was basically a battle of the wills- Mommy vs. Kallen- and unfortunately Kallen won. :S By the time I had to go to work last night I was completely exhausted, our house was a disaster (when Kallen is tired he gets super destructive), and by the time Shawn got him Kallen was so tired he was crying about everything. I spent most of last night thinking, and flipping through a couple parenting magazines and I came up with a game plan.

#1.) I absolutely will NOT go get Kallen in the mornings until he is happily jabbering in his crib. (usually he wakes up crying at 7 and I rush in to get him) This morning he cried from 7-7:30 and by the time I walked in to get him at 7:45 he was in the best mood, just talking to his fish by his bed and smiling!!

#2.) No matter how grouchy he is, I will not let him take a morning nap!! (This may mean a rather challenging morning for me, but I really think it will pay off in the end) I started this today, and our morning went suprisingly well and Kallen is happily snoozing in his crib right now!! :)

This is probably something I should have done a while ago, but I'll blame my pregnancy on the fact that recently I just have not had the energy to fight Kallen on things. This needs to end because he definitely does NOT need to be the one running this household!! Anyways- I am excited about our new schedule! Plus I think it will work out nicely when little brother gets here in just 8 more weeks!