O sleep, O gentle sleep

Another day, another battle with “The Nap”. My very-near-to-be-two-year-old has decided that when it is Mommy’s time to put him to bed for his nap, he is going to refuse. Refuse by yelling “All done!”, “noooooo”, get a fit of the giggles, ask for the potty, ask for water, milk, juice, a cookie, a book. No, not that book. Another book. The one with Pooh on it.

When he’s finally falling asleep, my other munchkin wakes leaving the toddler thinking that as soon as mommy walks out that door, it’s time to sneak out and pull all the toys off the shelves. (*Note, I did NOT take a picture).

So, after two hours of “Go to sleep” and trying hard not to give into demands for attention, sending him straight back to his bed, I gave up. Seriously, two hours is enough of a waste of my time, Daysha’s and his.

The result was a temper tantrum after a walk and play at the park, and an earlier bedtime than he usually goes. 8:30. Now there are a lot of tots that always go to bed at that time. Mine? It has usually been 10 o’clock. He sleeps in that way, and so does Mommy. I never really cared because I’m a night hawk anyway so a late bedtime for him was fine with me. As long as he got his sleep. But this is now the third time I have had a battle with the naptime. He has always been really good but I am starting to think that A) he’s testing all the skills I have with patience and anger management and B) he might be growing out of his nap.

I have always been in tune with Ethan and have carefully watched when something wasn’t working and we’d change it up so that life would become easier. I’m not all about ridged schedules and routines. I think kids are flexible as they grow so I’m all about making things as easy as I can for everyone involved.

But in all honesty, I don’t know if I should turf this naptime thing just yet. Perhaps I can for a while and see if the earlier bedtime will work for him but in the past when he’s missed his nap and crashed before the usual time, he wakes up more during the night and the next day is an overtired kid. I don’t know if it is best for him to get all his sleep requirements in one stint or keep it broken up over the day with a nap. If that’s the case, I need to find something else to keep him from popping his head in and out of the door.

My options are:
A) Bed time at 9-10, wake at 8-9, nap at 1-2 (what we do now)
B) Bed time at 9-10, wake at 8-9, nap at lunchtime. (would an earlier nap work?)
C) Bed time at 8-9, wake at 7-8, nap at lunchtime. (when’s lunch? Before/after nap?)
D) Bed time at 8-9, wake at (?), no nap. Recipe for crankiness?

And I am sure there are more options I could try too. I realize that pre-preschoolers are programmed to challenge everything an adult lays before them but I’d ideally like to be, at least, a half a step ahead of him. What’s happening now is nothing but a combat and I’m losing. So before I throw in the towel and raise the white flag, what do you think? What age is it reasonable for a toddler to grow out of the need for a nap?

Some technical garb: According to the National Sleep Foundation, babies need 14 to 15 hours of sleep, toddlers need 12 to 14 hours and preschoolers need 11 to 13 hours in each 24-hour period to function at their best. And the more sleep-deprived a child is, the more likely he is to be sleepy and overtired during the day, to change sleeping locations at night, and to have more sleep problems overall. Sleep begets sleep -- it can't be said often enough. --- Ann Douglas, Canadian Living.com

The bed is a bundle of paradoxes: we go to it with reluctance, yet we quit it with regret; we make up our minds every night to leave it early, but we make up our bodies every morning to keep it late. ~Charles Caleb Colton

*image is not mine. Stolen from a google search.