Would you like to hear about nap time at my house?
I knew you did!
We are on a thirty minute schedule with Mr. Ezra currently. That is, he sleeps for 30 minutes, is happy and awake for 30 minutes, turns suddenly fussy and I spend 30 minutes putting him back to bed.
It is super fun.
The hardest part is that he USED to just put himself to sleep with little effort on my part. I'd wrap him up, lay him down and walk away. He'd stare happily at the ceiling, toking on his binky until he'd drift off peacefully and sleep for two hours.
That has been shot straight to the bad place. I don't know why! I didn't change anything up on him. He just decided he liked this version of his life better.
It wouldn't be so bad except that the 30 minutes of jiggling, rocking, nursing, shushing, swaying and praying just kind of puts a real damper in my day. Especially because it's every hour or so.
The worst is though that as I'm doing all of the above, I know, I JUST KNOW that my children are engaging in shenanigans that make me cringe. I can kind of hear their goings-on through the door and all the white noise, and I know it isn't good. Henry tends to be fine, Spencer is a bit unpredictable, and Oliver is straight up the shenanigan king. This upsets me.
So I'm all jiggle jiggle, bounce bounce bounce, sway sway, hip circle hip circle (I totally missed my calling as a hula dancer!) rock rock, jiggle jiggle jiggle, I'm thinking, "I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep, I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep, I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep!"
It's good and bad when Oliver comes in the room and refuses to go. Bad because he's very loud and doesn't care in the slightest that I'm ready to punt him into the next county if he doesn't shut it! Good because when he's with me I know he's not feeding the dog an entire bottle of Sweet Vidalia Onion salad dressing (true story).
But by the time 30 minutes of not knowing what the frickety frack my kids have destroyed or even if they are still at home, or perhaps they caught a bus down town, I get a little panicked, and my swaying and jiggling and praying picks up the pace.
Then I try to lay Ezra down and he fusses so it's back up again, and lather rinse repeat until I finally am successful. I creep out, step on a package of baby wipes that makes the loudest "crinkle" in the world (What the heck baby-wipe-package maker! Ever heard of QUIET PACKAGING?) and rush to see the mayhem in which I live.
Then I do it all over again in an hour when Ezra is tired.
It makes getting anything done quite challenging. Which is why I'm blogging and not doing the dishes. Priorities people. PRIORITIES!
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6 comments:
oh my heavens, that's how Reagan was a few months ago! She was a great sleeper, then I ended up having to rock and sway, and it took forever. Same thing, my older kids went to town destroying everything. So I had to let Reagan cry a little. I just didn't have the time to ignore 2 kids by rocking all day. But it's hard, good luck! Hopefully he'll get back into his good routine soon!
Oh my goodness, your description of your comfort techniques is too funny! As painful as it is, it's kind of a relief when kids stop napping - no more having to work schedules around nap time, no more frustration trying to juggle a napping baby along with making sure the other children don't kill each other...I feel your pain!
Carolyn- Yeah, the time it takes verses the time he sleeps is KILLING me!
Tonya- I know, when they hit a certain age, it's totally NOT worth the nap time effort anymore! Oliver is two and still solidly, happily naps. I've never had a kid reach age three still napping though. We'll see!
I have been staying with my daughter and two granddaughters, aged 10 months and 3 years. I looked on, helped as I could, and wondered how I did it. It is exhausting work. My little three year old just had her birthday, sometimes naps, sometimes not. But on the busy days, with so much going on, by 6 pm she may cry easily, and even say "I'm sorry, I'm so tired" while crying. It is so sweet.
Great post.
Naptime at your house is FUN.. and you know that dog enjoyed the salad dressing.. and the bottle he tried to give him he NEXT morning too!!
Ezra started that 30 min sleep thing before we came.. but you said he wasn't feelign well maybe he just got use to it? poor kid.. poor you 30 min is just enough time to kid of relax from spending so much time putting said child back to sleep. ugh.. Do you think he'd enjoy a swing put him in turn it on leave the room? Ky lived in her swing for a long time!
hearing about how you've had a dressing fed dog on your hands before made me laugh out loud.
Mothering is hard..but you are also great at it. This time will pass, or transition into something else too... in the mean time start working on a costume for your hula dancer costume.
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