About Lost Naps and Other Grievances

Nick ditched his nap. He made it until about 3.75 years old. Little Xander made it to about 3 years old at the oldest. So there's that blessing.

There's also the fact that, even though I dreaded the impending lost nap in both cases, as my children moved toward getting rid of their nap, they were maturing at the same time. It has not been as hard in either case as I thought it would be. So there's that, too.

What I want to do is wallow in my self-pity and say, "Just when I have to put aside afternoons to work, he decides to drop his afternoon nap." But there are always adaptations we can make.

I've moved Nick's independent playtime to his former nap time, so he is still in his room at the time I need to start work. I figure if he's exhausted on any given day, he will play a little and then fall asleep. Hasn't quite happened that way yet, but I feel able to explain (to different degrees) to both boys my need to be undistracted when I'm sitting at the computer with my headphones on. (My work uniform and signal to them that I am working.) Xander loves to play on his own for hours, and we are done with schooling by the afternoon, so that's no problem. Nick can play in his room for a while, at least. His brother is old enough to help him with a lot of things, like if he needs a snack. And they usually get to watch Wild Kratts (a PBS show that teaches Xander all about all kinds of different animals) at 4:00.

Nick used to have his independent playtime in the morning so Xander and I had an uninterrupted hour to work on school subjects. That was necessary a few months ago, but it only takes a few months at Nick's age to grow up quite a bit. He can now join us in our studies for as long as he feels like it and go off to play when he's done. What an amazing transformation 3 years old to 4 years old is.

I want to grieve over not being totally present for them in the afternoon, but to be honest, I wasn't always 100% mentally available to them by a certain point in the day anyway. I am still home to deal with anything that crops up. I notice what's going on even when I'm working with those headphones on.

Xander offered to vacuum the floors last night after a big snack mess the boys made. (A big snack mess that, really, Nick made.) I felt blessed. Then he asked for money. I told him we could talk about a job tomorrow.