Tuesday, January 13, 2009

New Napping Schedule

Apparently I've been denying the inevitable. Friday I was telling one of my child rearing consultants about how the babes are not napping well. She very directly yet gracefully told me they are wanting to go to one nap. Not something I wanted to hear, I let it roll around in my head all weekend. Then Sunday evening, H and I talked and decided to plunge into a One Nap schedule Monday. Today is our second day with one nap. The transition, while not painless, continues to be easier than I thought.
I thought the toughest part would be keeping them awake until noon. They've been going down for a morning nap about 9:30. This has been relatively painless though. I let them play a lot. About 10:30 I put them in the wagon and we go check on our new farm additions. When we get back about 11:30, it is time to eat and then time to sleep. The wagon is great because the children have to sit up; they don't lean back like in the stroller where they would just fall asleep.
With this new schedule the babes have been going to sleep rather easily (knock on wood). My biggest concern after going through our first day yesterday is the length of that One Nap. Lucia only slept an hour and a half. And Elliott slept the longest, at only just over two hours. On their two nap schedule, they were getting close to four hours of sleep from their naps. This mama needs her babes to nap longer than two hours a day.
Lucia has always needed the least amount of sleep. When she woke up first yesterday, she sat in the chair like a big girl for a few minutes and read a book while I finished a project I was working on.
Mazie also enjoyed doing some reading this morning.
The wagon Cousin Avery gave the children for Christmanukkah is such a great piece of our daily schedule. It is going to make the transition to one nap easier. Walking the babes in the stroller would not be good, as they would be out like lights as soon as we hit the dirt road.
(And Yes, Summer, this is indeed another set of camo fleece the babes received for Christmas. We are apparently firmly rooted in at least some aspects of rural culture.)
We are in for a chilly week with several hard freezes predicted for the upcoming nights. I love it, but do hope our new animals will be able to find warm places during the nights.
Today was our second day trying to stay up until noon and our second day rambling about in the wagon. Today Elliott and Mazie were either more comfortable in the wagon or they were exhausted. Maze leaned back and snoozed the last few minutes, despite my annoying efforts to try to rouse her.
Elliott did the terribly annoying head bobbing thing; he'd snooze off, dropping his head down thus waking himself up. It was painful to watch. Luckily we were almost home.
Pretty Lu was the only one to stay awake for the ride today. After eating their lunch, they went down for their nap. Here's hoping it will be a longer one today.

1 comment:

Todd and Randi said...

It's going to take a bit to get into the new routine. We have a two hour nap rule around these parts. They are in their cribs from 1-3 pm no matter what. Honestly, most days if I let them cry for a bit they will get themselves back to sleep. A good day for me is a 2.5 hour nap for both. A great day is a 3 hour nap for both. We might get those once or twice a week. Also, don't hesitate to put them to bed earlier in the evening. Our guys are lights out at 7:30 pm at the latest, some nights as early as 7 pm. Keep on keeping on. You'll get there soon!!