Naps and Parker

Parker is in the midst of giving up his nap. Some days he doesn't nap. On those days, he gets cranky, whiny, tired and falls asleep during books at 7pm. On days when he does nap (voluntarily or involuntarily), he doesn't actually go to bed until close 9pm (even though we do the bedtime routine at 7:30.) This has been going on for weeks and I've experimented with different situations. Nothing has really worked and he is either cranky in the afternoon or awake at night. In either case, he has been getting up earlier too around 5:40am. So, in addition to all this nap nonsense, he is not sleeping enough at night.

The other day, I asked him if he wanted to nap. He said No. I told him he had to play in his room quietly until the girls woke up. Since he does this anyway, he was happy with this arrangement. About an hour later, he came down stairs to tell me he didn't feel good. I asked if he wanted to lie down with me on the couch. He did. 5 minuter, he was asleep. 20 minutes later, the girls woke up from their nap. We played in their room for a while, but then came out to the living room. (Some friend suggested I only let him sleep for a little bit giving him some nap and allowing him to go to sleep at a normal time at night.) I thought our noise might wake him up. Nope. We banged on instruments, I picked him up. Nope. Nope. Still asleep. I turned on the TV and a few minutes later, with him on my lap, he opened his eyes. Then he peed all over me, him, and the couch. I remained calm, which is more than I can say for him. I took him into the bathroom where we both got changed, but by then it was too late. The crying and screaming had begun. It lasted a long, long time (an hour I would guess) before he was recovered. Man, I'll never do that again. I'd rather he stay up all night then deal with that.

Today, from about an hour after he woke up, he started crying, whiny, and screaming. Neither Michael or I could figure out why or what started it. So with Parker in his room screaming, Dad left for work. Jessica arrived. Parker was still screaming. She left with the girls. Still screaming. I went up and asked him if he wanted to lie down with me. After some more screaming, he agreed. And, guess what, 5 minutes later he was asleep. That was almost 2 hours ago and he is still sleeping on the couch. So much for swim class, mommy and parker day, or anything else. That little guy just needs to sleep.