Saying goodbye to the nap
If you regularly read our blog you’ll know that the last few weeks have been full of childhood milestones for us. Both our kid’s graduated pre-k, Erica’s son moved from being a toddler to a little ‘kid’. Now a change I have been dreading for some time is happening. The end of the nap. I am a force napper. For most of my mom friends naps ended at ages 2 and 3, but my son, he has been napping away well into his 3’s and 4’s. My boy is so high energy that I demand a nap and will even lie in bed with him like I have been doing since he was a baby. Once he falls asleep, FREEDOM. And hey who am I to deny him some rest? Says his tired, stressed out mom! I even went on a work trip a few months back and my husband had put an end to the nap in my absence. Is he crazy? I quickly reinstated it.
Now at almost 5 the nap is finally becoming a rarity. I’m going to miss how these naps allow me an hour of quiet time to catch up on the computer, clean the floor with out dirty feet marking my shiny work. The nap is without fail how my son gets to redeem any bad deeds he has done for the day. His sweet little sleepy face reminds me how lucky and grateful I am to have him and the disappointment of a morning of tense timeouts or discussions on poor behavior such as a slap to my face (another time, another post) or declarations on how I am not his best friend somehow disappear. He awakes happy and singing, declaring love to me. With kindergarten in the near future and a long day of afterschool care, homework every night. No pre-k hall pass here, kindergarten is serious work so I know his naps will be a thing of the past come September but for now I get to enjoy the ritual of quiet ‘me’ time and watching my boy dream away.
Posted and Photo by Donna