Thursday, February 26, 2009

February 26, 2009

Wow, what a beautiful day we are having here today. It is warm and windy and the sun is shining. Makes you almost believe that spring is here, but I think it will be cold again this weekend. We will enjoy it while it lasts though.

So, that sleeping thing. A day like today really makes me want to let the boys give up their naps. But, the dad and I are not quite ready for it yet. Part of the issue is that he normally gets home from work around 6:00pm. The boys are going to bed around 8:00pm, which already does not leave much room for the dad to enjoy his sons in the evenings, when you add in dinner and getting ready for bed and everything. We are not quite ready to move them to an earlier bedtime, which we would likely have to do if they skipped naps.

The other thing is that Nick especially still seems to really need at least a short nap. I really think Ben would be fine without his nap but Nick is definitely not. When Nick does not have a nap, he really becomes quite disagreeable, everything becomes a battle and it is no fun for anybody.

We went to my sister's house on Tuesday to celebrate my mom's birthday and mine, since mine was Monday. We went out to eat lunch and decided to take a drive by some of the beautiful areas on the lake, around their town. Nick was asleep in no time but Ben stayed awake the entire time. We extended our drive to let Nick sleep a little while because I knew he would not fall back to sleep again if he had been asleep for a bit. Nick did fine the rest of the day on the small nap he had and Ben did OK without one.

Ben tends to be a bit fussy at the end of the day, without a nap, but not too bad. I know he would adjust quickly to not having one but, selfishly, I want to keep them on the same schedule. Also, there is no way Nick would fall asleep (or stay in his bed) if he thought Ben was going to be up while he (Nick) had to sleep. He would throw a huge fit and he would be very sad....not to mention the fact that I sit in their room until they fall asleep and I could not leave Ben outside of the room unattended. Having them on different schedules would just be too hard.

The other thing is that I have read in several places that children should really have a nap until they turn four. Now I know all children are different but is that something that ever concerned those of you who let your younger ones quit taking naps? Sleep is so important to their little bodies and I want to make sure they are getting as much as they should.

The dad and I both feel that things are going pretty well right now with our sleep schedule. Granted, one of us is still sitting in their room with them until they fall asleep but, other than that, things are going very smoothly. They now settle down and go to sleep in about 10 to 15 minutes at nap time. Since we are getting them to bed around 8:00pm now, they are normally asleep somewhere between 8:30 and 9:00, but they are quiet and content until they fall asleep.

As for waking up time, Nick has started sleeping in again, which I am thankful for. Three of the past four days he has slept until 7:00 or later. He even slept past 7:30 one day, which was surprising. I think sometimes Nick wakes up earlier because he is a light sleeper in the mornings and he sometimes hears the garage door when the dad is leaving for work. I think that is why he wakes up around 6:00 or 6:30 some days. Ben consistently sleeps until 7:00 or 7:30, for the most part.

For nap, Nick normally takes about an hour and a half nap and Ben will often take two hours. That means they are getting around 10 to 10.5 hours at night and another 1.5 to 2 during nap, for a total of about 11.5 or 12 hours a day. I'll have to look up how much they should be getting at this age. Ben is right at 41 months old. N is a couple of weeks over 39 months.

The only thing is that today I almost, almost let them stay up and not take a nap because it is soooo nice outside and I wanted to let them play as long as possible out there because it is going to be turning cold again. But, I kept thinking about how miserable Nick becomes without a nap and decided that would not be a good thing. He is a very unhappy little guy later in the day without the nap and it is just not worth it yet. But, as soon as they wake up, we will be outside for the rest of the day and it will soon be spring and we can spend all day outside.

I got the boys a soccer ball and goal today so I am going to go put the goal together so we can play with it when they wake up. They were very excited. This is going to be such a fun summer with them. They are at such a fun age to do so many things now.

On the other hand, they are really fighting over a lot of things these days. I am ready to get rid of all of our dishes, silverware and cups and go buy white everything so they can't fight over it anymore...although I know they would find something to fight over anyway. They are now fighting over who gets to sit in which car seat, who gets the blue spoon, blue bowl, blue plate, blue shirt, etc. You name it. They are fighting over everything these days. I am beginning to think that three is much harder than two and I didn't expect that.

At the same time, they also melt my heart these days because they say the sweetest things. God knew what he was doing when he made them look and sound soooo cute when they are at an age where they can be a bit frustrating at times:).

Must go. I know I need to post some pics. Will try to do so soon.

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