Nap Time

I told D, the other day, that it was probably time to wean H from his naps, as he will be starting full-day kindergarten next year. Oh but I don’t want to, but not for the reasons you may think. It is not because he is growing up, it is because I love nap time. Nap time is a beautiful thing.

I will never forget when I got both boys to start napping at the same time. It was glorious. We were living in Germany, D was gone a lot, and I was homesick and completely overwhelmed. Then I started to get 1.5 hours of peace every day. I always taped a note over the doorbell: If you ring this bell, you will receive the full force of my temper. I will then come to your house, wake your children in the middle of the night and give them sugar and caffeine. Actually, I just wrote “Please knock quietly” but they would have been sorry if they rang.

I have always kept the boys on a strict nap schedule for my own sanity. I have a friend whose theory is: they will nap when they are tired and they will nap anywhere. No thank you, my friend. I like to know when to expect the cease-fire…it eases me off the trigger. Strict nap schedules do make it more difficult to get out and about; however, more than one adventure has been cut short when it approached nap time. Sometimes we would try to have a “fun” day and skip nap time……hell in a stroller.

So I am going to put off the nap-weaning. H still naps 3 hours a day, and there is no fighting about it. The last two days he has asked me when he can go to sleep. Seriously…I am not messing with this.