No More Naps...

Bedtime has been a nightmare lately. Liam and Jonas share a room and after we say our 'goodnights' and close the door they go wild. Mostly Jonas goes wild. He jumps out of bed, jumps onto Liam's bed, jumps off of Liam's bed, runs around like crazy - screaming and playing. It is very obvious he is out of bed and jumping around because of the way everything echos in this townhouse. We were having to go warn them over and over again to settle down. After 3 nights in a row of putting Jonas in the extra bedroom so Liam would be able to get some sleep Nate suggested that maybe we should stop giving Jonas a nap during the day anymore. No more naps!? How could I even consider something like that. I am exhausted enough as it is with my 1-2 hour break during the day!

Saturday and Sunday we tried it out. I am so glad I had a little backup those first couple days. Monday was a little harder. Our days are a lot more boring on weekdays. At least on Saturday they went outside to play with their friends across the street for a few hours. But yesterday and today have been more of a challenge. I like to have a little midday rest myself and by 2 pm I needed to lay down. So Jonas and I snuggled up in my bed before we had to go pick Liam up from school. We were watching a cooking show, not planning on actually falling asleep. I guess Jonas had other plans because within a few minutes he was almost asleep. So, for the next 15 minutes I tried to keep him awake. I can't believe I am saying that - I was trying to keep him awake! After that we had to go pick up Liam so Jonas was happily awake for the rest of the evening because he has someone else to entertain him.

Today (Tuesday) was similar. I had a lot to do today around the house - dishes, laundry and some transcribing for Nate of interviews he did in the Philippines. While I washed dishes (there were a lot of them!) I let Jonas watch some Gummi Bears episodes. When I was finished it was time for lunch. After that is usually when he takes a nap. I knew I needed to have some sort of activity for him to do to keep him busy. We took a little walk up and down the street collecting autumn leaves and then came back to play around with them. Here are our creations:

Jonas'

Mine

A portrait of Jonas using the leaves we collected.

All of that only took 20 minutes!

I really had to work on the transcribing. I tried to talk him into playing with Lego or his toys or coloring but all he wanted to do was hang on me, begging to do something else fun. So I turned on a movie for him. The next thing I knew he was dozing off while watching his movie and once again I was trying to keep him awake.

The only good thing that has come from these last few days is that at bedtime they go to sleep! We haven't had to go in and warn them once. Now I just need to find some activities he can do on his own that will keep him happy and awake so I can get some things done during the day. Wish me luck...