"Time to Sleep" was a timely theme for us, because Katie Anne is having some sleep problems since we came back from vacation. Last night, getting her to bed was a disaster... she didn't fall asleep until around 10:00 pm, and that's not like her at all. It was a total battle, with her screaming for almost an hour, yelling out all kind of ploys to get us to come back in the room: "I've got to potty!!" ; "I lost my paci!!" ; "I need to be changed!! I pooped!!" ; "I need a drink!!" ; "My bed's wet with tee-tee!!" ; "My foot stuck!! Wahhh!!" ... the only won that was true was that her foot was stuck in the crib slats from trying to climb out of the bed. We were exhausted by the time she finally laid down (under threat of getting a spanking if she yelled any more) and went to sleep.She's always been super-easy to put to bed, but for the last few nights of our vacation and the few nights we've been home, she's been hard to put down and has been waking frequently. On vacation, we chalked it up to an unfamiliar (and non-crib) bed, unfamiliar room/noises, overtired from late nights of going out to eat, etc. At home, we thought maybe it was that she's ready for a big-girl bed at home (and she is, and we're working on it), but we also think that the true source of the sleep disturbance is ... the dreaded too-long nap.
So sad for me, because I love the too-long nap. On the days when she conks out for three or four hours, I can get SO much done. However, I think we're paying the price for those extra daytime sleep hours at night. At the beach, she would wear herself out in the morning and sleep from lunch to dinnertime. I wasn't going to restrict her naps on vacation because I didn't want her to be irritable when we went out in the evenings, but I think those long naps - combined with the one hour time change - messed her up. Now, since we've gotten home, she's continuing the long nap trend with a four hour nap on Sunday and Monday. Both nights, she was totally wide awake long past her normal bedtime of 8:00.
So, today, I went with the plan Saunders and I dreamed up this morning, and I only let her sleep two hours. I put her down at 1:04, and I woke her up at 3:07. It is so hard and feels so unnatural to wake up a peacefully sleeping toddler! But, it did work out well for bedtime... she was easy to put to bed, went right to sleep at about 8:20, and we haven't heard a peep from her (and its 10:30). So, looks like my glory days of super-long naps were short lived! Hopefully this strategy, combined with a room remodel (that I'm SOOOO looking forward to... Googling new bedding as I upload pictures for this post) will help our little angelic sleeper go back to her old habits.
2 comments:
The library crafts every week are always so cute! Heather Brown said she saw you and waved, but was very distracted that day because of an extra toddler on her hands and lots of errands without any lists (Addison shredded her list in the car on the way to Toddler Time!). She said otherwise, she would have done more than wave!
It really stinks about the short-lived long nap times in the Jones household--I'm sure you were loving them! But hey, now you get to look forward to a room remodel and a growing-up big girl!
Um, I do not even know what I would do with myself if my daughter took a 4 hour nap!!! Are you kidding me?!?!? Handley went through a phase for 6 months where she didn't nap AT ALL. I left her in the crib for an hour just because I needed a break and she needed her "rest", but recently she started napping again...hallelujah. However, her nap is maybe an hour, 1.5 TOPS and there are still days she won't fall asleep. I bet that is part of the reason Katie Anne won't go to bed well at night.
Also wanted to share that I think it might just be the age too. I was talking to my neighbor today about her daughter (who is also 2) and started doing the same thing you described. Two days ago, Handley started doing the same thing...using EVERY excuse in the book to get to stay up longer and not go to bed when normally she would go right down with no problem.
No real advice for you, just wanted to let you know you aren't alone.
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