So yesterday, TG passed out in the car out of sheer exhaustion. She napped from 12:30 to 3pm. She woke up in the morning at 7:30am again as I had to head out to another early am meeting. I've noticed that TG gets pretty sleepy 5 hours after she's woken up so I figured 12 noon would be a good time to start the nap routine (quiet, slow things down, dim lights, etc). Unfortunately, DH had her out in the car for another errand that was supposed to only take an hour to 90 minutes but took most of the afternoon as well.
TG: Bed. Nap. (Signs nap). Milk? Raffe?
TG kept saying these items over and over again. It was her way of saying it's time for my downtime, parental units. Unfortunately she did not want to nap in the car though. She finally broke out with what I know is her last resort before meltdown. She said, "Ergo?"
Immediately, I recommended driving around hoping to lull her to sleep instead of idling. Ten minutes into circling the block, she passed out. The car was idled again for 45 minutes but then she started stirring and so while waiting for the errand to be completed, TG got a tour of several city blocks including cobblestone streets. By the way, sleeping TG seems to enjoy the cobblestone roads as long as you drive them in a moderate pace.
I was actually happy that she napped at a decent hour. For the past few weeks, her naps have been after 2pm which I think lent to the late night bedtimes. I mentioned this to DH but he immediately tells me that naps happen when they can return home in time. I wonder if he'd feel the same if he had nighttime parenting duty.
Since she woke up at 3pm, I hoped that this would be the turning point for her bedtime and she's be tired enough to go to bed at a reasonable time, like 8:30p.
We are almost there. At least, last night we were. TG started her sleep routine at 8pm and finally passed out at 9:30pm and woke up at 8am! Not only did she wake up at 8am but she woke up all smiles and happy as a clam! No crying. No clinginess. Happy go lucky TG was back!
Please oh please let today be the same.
I asked DH to try to make sure her nap routine begins around 12:30pm/1pm but I just received a call at 2pm that they just came home and he'll start the nap soon. If she naps at 3pm again, I'm screwed I know it. Argh.
I know it's not DH's fault. I know he's not doing this on purpose but we clearly don't see eye to eye about this. I don't mess with nap because nap is sacred. Good nap equals a happy baby and a happy bedtime.
Please let me be wrong. Let the 3pm nap be ok.
