cute little series of pictures...Caleb is so cute on his dad's shoulders : )
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| T see's how much fun C is having so he joins his brother up top |
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| the boys love doing puzzles and they are really good at it! |
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| The boys kept 'talking' to each other while they did puzzles this day, they would exchange verbalization's and point at stuff. Who knows what they were saying but they seemed to understand each other. I have yet to crack any triplet talk code. |
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| the sand pit got a whole lot funner now that it has a bunch of community toys : ) |
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| Eli getting braver and climbed up the sand pit waterfall |
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| E and the boys at a different park |
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| We went for a walk and to drop off some of the boys' baby toys at a friends house (which we've been meaning to do for several months now, so is the life with triplets). We thought we'd try it without a stroller. It's a good 10 min walk for an adult, they did really good on the way there but on the way back no so good : ( |
Nap time Crisis
So I'm in a bit of a quandary! The boys keep pushing up their nap time, they were going down for a nap just fine at 1pm just a couple of weeks ago. But then I started noticing that it would take them longer and longer to fall asleep and now that they can climb out of their cribs (except for Eli) it's getting trickier. My first thought was that with all the rain we've been having we have been staying home a lot more and that maybe they weren't getting enough exercise. I experimented and even on days that I was certain that they had gotten enough exercise they are still not falling asleep till 3/4pm (if in bed by 2pm then asleep by 3pm or 3pm by 4pm and so forth). If I let them they will sleep until 6/7pm which doesn't work for their previous 7:30pm bedtime! Even though I haven't been brave enough to try it, I have a suspicion that they could skip nap time altogether! So I need to figure out what to do, my options are as follows:
1) Put them down for nap time at 2 pm so they are asleep by 3 pm and don't let them sleep past 5 pm so I only push up bed time to 8 pm.
pros: I still get some time to clean and a little time for myself each day
cons: It's very hard to watch the boys for that long of a stretch before they start to drive you crazy, I would have to make sure we leave the house each day to avoid going crazy.
2) Skip nap all together and keep bed time at 7:30 or push it down to 7pm (not sure that will go over well).
pros: No more worrying about a nap schedule and we can move on to toddler beds.
cons: They will most surely drive me crazy unless I up their 30 min a day T.V. quota to 2 hrs.
3) Put them down at 2 pm and let them sleep as long as they want, which would be till 6 pm. And push up bed time to 9 pm.
pros: I would continue getting a nice long stretch to myself each day
cons: I get less time in the evenings for cooking and hanging out with husband. We'd have dinner along with the boys (unfortunately this is still a con, I do not like getting up 10 times during a meal).
Right off the bat I'm not liking option 2 since I'd like to avoid taking anti anxiety medication. But inevitably we'll have to switch to option 2 sometime in the future when the boys finally decide on a nap time mutiny, hopefully not till a more mature age so I don't have to turn to medication. My instinct tells me to milk nap time for all it's worth! So it's down to option 1 or 3, decisions decisions...
So now that I dragged my boys names through the mud let me clarify and say that they are VERY good boys but nothing changes the fact that they are two years old and that there are THREE of them!
Hi there. I feel for you, naps are tough and we want our break! My twin girls are 2.5 and it goes in phases. They usually go down for nap at 1:30/2 and some days there is lots of partying, laughing and playing for at least an hour before they fall asleep. I always wake them up by 4:30 to keep bedtime at 7:30 too. Some days they do not nap at all and I just let them get up after 90 minutes if not asleep. Other days they pass out right away and sleep for 2+ hours. It goes in phases as their sleep needs ebb and flow (growth spurts, sickness, etc?). We have had weeks where they don't nap for several days in a row and I wonder if they don't need naps, then the next week they are taking 3 hour naps. I suggest thinking of it as "rest time" and leave them in there 90+ minutes whether they sleep or not. Its still some down time for them to recharge(even give books to read in bed if you want) and break time for you. Don't give it up! I vote option 1 :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Natalie, that is very helpful to hear. I think we are headed into the phase you are talking about, just yesterday no one napped!
ReplyDeleteMy mom said I never napped after the first few months, and I was very active. But my bedtime was at 7, and she always made me have "rest time" during the day. I'd have to lay there (I could read quietly, talk to myself, whatever) for a certain amount of time, for my mother's sanity! Of course, there was only one of me. :)
ReplyDeleteWhen I was 19 I worked at a Montessori school. One of my jobs was to get over 20 toddlers and preschoolers to take a nap. The days that they all napped, including Gregory (you never forget some) were quite the victory. The secret-
ReplyDeleteCool temps
Cozy blankets
Dark room
Soft music
Face massages
You start with massaging hair, ears, forehead. Before they know it you are down to the eyebrows and then the eyelids, ever so slowly massaging them closed. Bam, they are out like a light! Not a great thing to do often because it's nice when kids can fall asleep on their own, but desperate times call for some sly tactics!
I agree with Natalie's suggestions. Do what you can but try very hard to keep some time for YOU! Even if they don't go to sleep at least they will have some quiet down time. One 2-year old is hard enough and I can only imagine you dealing with three. I do know you are doing a great job with them and all of you always look happy in the pictures you post.
ReplyDeleteLove to you all,
A.Nancy
I feel your pain. Transitioning out of napping is awful. There is no other reprieve like the midday nap time for a Mom. My 3 kids have all ended napping at different ages, 3 1/2, 2 1/2, and James at 3 years and 9 months. I got a sickening dread as the time would approach, but often once it was really time, it wasn't as bad as I thought. Your boys are still little, so I don't blame you hanging on as long as possible. The suggestions given above for quiet time and giving books, etc are what I was going to suggest. I know one Mom of three who had all her kids under five and none ever napped past babyhood. So everyday, after lunch she had quiet time (like Jonalyn mentions). Each child was given a stack of books to "read" i.e. "look at" and a sippy cup with milk mixed with Ovaltine. She had them do so for an hour. When James recently stopped napping, I told him it was okay if he didn't sleep, but he needed to sit quietly and look at his books. One other thing I was thinking may work for them if they really persist is to play an audio book or audio drama for them as they sit in their beds. (Garret got a bunch of audio dramas at Wallkill for the kids when we visited and Rachel was 3, she loved them!) You could just download something on your iPod and set up in their room. It may lull some of them to sleep and not the others. Whatever you figure out you deserve your you time and you and your husband deserve time alone together daily, you earned it!
ReplyDelete