farewell, afternoon nap

Ever since he was just a tiny guy, the bean has been a fairly decent sleeper.  I think it's partly due to the fact that he's usually a pretty easy-going kid and partly due to the fact that hubby and I have worked our butts off trying to stay consistent with his routine.  It's been alot of work, but has made life so much easier in so many ways.

Up until a couple of months ago, the bean would usually take two naps a day...one around 10 am and another around 2 pm.  They were never really that long.  A half-hour nap was considered good and I'd almost do backflips if he took an hour-long nap.  But even with his short-ish naps, he was generally happy and well-rested.  Then things started to get a little hit-and-miss when it came to his napping.  He started fighting and skipping naps...sometimes the morning nap, sometimes the afternoon nap, a couple times both.  When he did nap, he would fuss and fight it until he finally fell asleep.  And his naps started getting shorter and shorter.  And he started getting crabbier and crabbier.  But still, I stayed consistent, stuck to our routine, and tried putting him down for his two naps a day.  Well as of last week, that was not working anymore.  We were both getting frustrated when the afternoon nap wasn't working out...I was frustrated because he wasn't taking one and he was frustrated because he was stuck in his crib when he clearly wasn't tired.

So, we've decided to adjust the schedule and cut out the afternoon nap.  Instead of laying down for a morning and an afternoon nap each day, we are shooting for one mid-morning nap a day plus an afternoon quiet time where he goes into his crib to play or "read" or sleep if he feels tired.  Hopefully this will allow us both to have a break and a little rest in the afternoon. 

It's been six days on our new routine and so far, things are improving.  His one nap a day has been a bit longer these past few days (an hour or more each day) and yesterday, he even took a 30-minute "bonus nap" during his quiet time.  Woot!  And aside from a little crabbiness being caused by teething (poor kiddo), my little guy has been a happier kid these past few days.  Honestly, I think the new routine will be a bigger adjustment for me than for the bean.  I'm still trying to figure out the best time to run our errands and get out of the house.  But a little inconvenience for a while during this adjustment phase is a small price to pay for a well-rested and happy kid!