I've only heard the tumble of clothes in the dryer and the whirl of our ceiling fans for the last 15 minutes--and this is a wondrous thing! Today perhaps all three will sleep* . . . unlike yesterday, or the day before, or many before that.
Why would anyone think such antics would wear her out enough for a nap?!
Actually, upon reflection, I'm surprised and grateful for the long stretches of good naps the girls have had since they learned to climb out of their cribs last summer (around 16-17 months of age).
Josiah takes a Mom-imposed "rest time/quiet time," which is sometimes neither restful nor quiet, but at least intended to be such. He's supposed to sit on his mattress in our room and read his books quietly. He successfully does this at least for a period of time, unless he's particularly ornery on a given day. (Then he calls to me every five minutes to see if it's time to wake up yet--or he kicks the walls/closet door--or he climbs up my dresser to check out the contents on top--or he ties things up with his blanket--etc.)
I'm thankful that we've instituted and stuck to this routine. The many days he stays relatively quiet in the room and looks at books are worth the days of struggle. And sometimes he actually does fall asleep and is much pleasanter in the evening (though he often is awake till 9:30 that night)!
Lydia
But back to the girls. We've had periods of difficulty. As with most any mothering challenge, when they resist naps a few days in a row, I start to panic and despair: "Why won't they nap??? I can't spend every day sitting outside their door for hours on end!!! How will I ever cook dinner again??? How will I ever do laundry?? I didn't even get to eat lunch and I'm starving!! I'm going crazy and I can't stand it and this is terrible and it will last FOREVER!!!"
Then I remember that we've been through such stages before (with lots of other sorts of parenting difficulties, too), and thankfully, each stage has never lasted eternally. (I certainly gain some eternal value from persevering, praying, and practicing patience, though.)
Abby
The recent nap strikes have persisted long enough that I think this may not just be a stage, unfortunately. Since May I can no longer expect both girls to fall asleep in a reasonable amount of time (30-45 min.) each afternoon. Sometimes they play off each other and neither naps (like yesterday).
I check on them every few minutes to ensure misbehavior isn't getting out of hand (see below--I've wisened up from weeks of dealing with naughtiness!). Sometimes one twin falls asleep (and thankfully is pretty dead to the world for about an hour), but Sister stays up talking, playing, singing, reading, yelling, and attempting any number of shenanigans. Lately Abby has most often been the wakeful sister.
Lydia
Abby
What do they do instead of napping? They come up with a surprising number of entertaining alternatives to just giving up and going to sleep . . .
Lydia
1. They yell each other's names back and forth.
2. They balance on the top of the crib rails and give each other tips and encouragement in their gymnastic feats. (I discovered them doing this one day: "Like this, Abby!" "Like this, Li-ya! Look at me!"
3. They remove their diapers and pee all over their beds.
4. They remove their diapers and poop all over their beds.
5. One twin joins another in her bed, and they make a party of removing diapers and peeing all over the bed.
6. Then they attempt clean-up by pulling out three containers of wipes and strewing them over the bed and wiping each other's bums.
"Sugar and spice and everything nice"--right?
7. They gnaw on books and spit out the little bits of cardboard, then complain their bed is "dirty."
8. They throw all their books out of bed and then wail that they don't have any.
9. They scream to be covered up . . . over and over and over and over and over again.
10. They scream because Baby-doll or Kitty or Baby Monkey or Doggie isn't covered up and MUST be covered properly for peace to reign.
11. They cry because Froggie isn't lying on his
back like he should be in order to sleep.
Lydia
12. They pull out all the stashed diapers from their packages and strew them across the floor.
13. They climb atop a dresser and pull all of Josiah's clothes out of his drawers and pile them in their cribs.
14. They "read" loudly to Baby-doll and stuffed animals.
15. Baby-doll "poops" and needs to be changed.
16. They shove all their books down the crack between the crib-railing and the wall and cry because they can't retrieve them. (Neither can Mama without crawling under the crib to the far reaches of the corners.)
17. They stand on the windowsill behind the blinds and watch the neighbor's yard for any interesting activities.
18. They jump in bed . . . and sometimes bump their heads and need kisses, or bite their lips and need band-aids.
Lydia
19. They eke out a little pee-pee so that they MUST be changed in order to fall asleep.
20. They hang by knees over the crib rail and need rescuing.
21. They change each other's diapers.
22. They strip off their clothes.
23. They pull out all the reserved, too-big shoes from the closet and try them on.
24. They pour out their water cups all over their sheets and then yell because their beds are wet. (They are no longer allowed sippy-cups in bed during naptime!)
25. They kick the walls and dressers within reach from their cribs, sometimes ending up with a foot stuck in between the crib rails--at which point they yell desperately for Mama.
Abby
This past week I resorted to bribery: if they stay in their beds during naptime, they each get a few raisins when I let them get up. While we haven't had 100% success rate, this trick has worked surprisingly well. It also helps reduce the scrapes they get into and the resultant discipline, since they're mostly staying in bed (even if they're not very quiet about it). It's nice to see their budding of logical thought, too!
*Or not. Josiah's longer period of quietness deceived me. He's still very much awake and has taken two bathroom trips in the course of my writing this blog post.
