No Nap Nightmare

Lately my big girl seems to have decided that she is much too big for a nap. I still put her down for a nap every day, but she has become pretty selective about when she'll actually sleep and when she'd rather have some quiet playtime, sleeping maybe four or five days out of each week. Luckily she is content to play by herself for almost as long as she typically naps which still allows me a little break each day, but doesn't help at all with the cranky attitude she develops when she hasn't rested properly. Additionally, it can be scary to open her bedroom door after her quiet time on a day when she hasn't napped and survey the damage. I have to admit that I'm really glad that this is all happening now, before the baby is here, because this way I'm perceiving it as a new developmental stage and not blaming the behavior on having a new baby in the house. Anyhow, the lack of sleep has brought about a little bit of hilarity (I'll choose to perceive it that way!) around here lately that I thought I'd share and document.

Although I've decided that I'm not at all ready to potty train Sofie (I'm thinking maybe this winter when we're more home-bound) I may have no choice but to go ahead and work on it with her anyway since she's become quite fond of undressing herself. It's not such a big deal when we're just at home goofing around because I can redress her fairly quickly, but when she's "napping" there's no telling how long she's roaming diaper-free. Yesterday after I discovered her bare-bottomed I asked her if she had peed anywhere. She was very obliging and happily showed me just the spot, on her bed of course, which changed the course of my afternoon plans :) Just another chapter in mess making 101 really. Other favorites include removing all the clothes/hair bows/socks/diapers from her dresser, as I've previously posted about, and also taking all of the books off of her bookshelf (and she's got a LOT of books). The latter is one of my favorites since I usually open the door to her sitting on top of a pile of books flipping through one's pages and I get greeted with the annoyed statement, "I'm reanin!" Typically I walk away grinning and leave her in peace to read 'til her heart is content.

The hardest thing to deal with has been the frequent meltdowns, lack of cooperation, and precipitous frustration that follow an afternoon without a nap. In the moment it can be difficult for me, exhausted, to stay level headed, but in review some of it just cracks me up. Sofie has been experimenting with defiance, but she is so funny because in addition to some instances of just not obeying me when she is interested in doing something else she has also taken to random acts of insanity just for the sake of finding out the answer to that age-old question, "I wonder what happens if I try this..." The one she seems stuck on right now happens every so often when we walk outside and head for the van to go somewhere. There is a sidewalk that juts away from the main walkway and leads up to another apartment's doorstep. Instead of walking to the van she will follow that sidewalk all the way up to that apartment and literally stand with her face three inches from the wall as still as she can be as until I quietly come to retrieve her. Goofy?! Some of the things she says in her frustration crack me up. Like, she will ram her head into my legs and screech, "Skew me!" even when she has plenty of room to walk around me. Today I was working on the laundry as she pulled uncomfortably at her shirt whining, "I don' wike it dis shuht!" until I helped her pick something else out and change clothes.

Lastly, when she is really about to crash she just gets completely loopy. Literally, she'll repeat phrases or behaviors over and over again, giggling like a lunatic. Tonight she spied Ben and I sharing a little kiss and decided she wanted in on the action. After climbing up on the couch and planting each of us with a kiss she decided she was in the mood for some hugs. She would give me a nice big hug and then pull away and giggle, then give me another. I was probably the recipient of at least fifteen wiggly, giggly hugs. Ok...so maybe there is a benefit or two associated with this lack of napping thing :)

"Who me? Sleepy? Naw!"
At Grannie Gracie's on the 4th of July.