Nap Battles

Quiet time is a few hours each afternoon that I pretty much consider sacred. As Ava outgrew actually sleeping "naptime" quickly became "quiet time" in which she can read books, do artwork, even watch a movie if it means I get my hour or two of peace and quiet kid-free time. Suddenly the last 4 days or so Jocelyn is beginning to not sleep during her quiet time. Ava took naps until right around 4 years old (as I recall). Add to that my belief that Jocelyn is not as disciplined as Ava was, and I'm dreading the possibility that she is outgrowing her naps. Finally, Molly is transitioning from 2 naps a day to 1. Sometimes this means she gets a great 2 1/2-hour nap, other times I miss my window and she gets barely 1 hour of napping in for the day (not nearly enough for this 14 month old).

As Molly began waking up just after 2pm this afternoon, I stalled as long as I felt I could to go get her. Feeling slightly bitter at having my me-time cut short yet again, I came upon the scene that I recorded below. Because the room is dimly lit you can't see anything, so let me paint the picture for you: Molly was sitting in the corner of her crib reading a board book that I left in the bed with her when she went down. It's The Big Red Barn, which if you've never read it does in fact have its pages filled with different farm animals. The pauses of silence are her turning the pages. The sounds she's making are on some level animal noises, which she made as she pointed to whatever animal was on the page she was looking at. And while the video is less than a minute, she sat there reading to herself for at least 5 minutes before I went in to get her.

Listening to Molly wake up happily from her nap and entertain herself until I came to get her made my less-than-perfect quiet time for the day much more bearable. I am trying to remember to stop being bitter for not having enough, and rather being content with what I have, even if that means only 45 minutes each day to myself. I mean, really - one of these days NONE of them will be napping in the afternoons, and then I'll really be in trouble!