I'm starting to see the signs in Gabriella of a girl ready to pass another milestone and leave naps safely in her past. Someone. Help. Me. Seriously, if it weren't for the hour (give or take) that I get a day while they are both napping, I think I'd be a bald, crazy-eyed woman with a drinking problem.
I knew this would come. I suppose I should color myself lucky that she has been taking naps this long. I know of children who gave them up well before their third birthday. (In fact, I was one of those rebels who stopped napping before I turned two. If only I knew what sleep would mean to me later in life, I would have continued napping until.... Well, I wouldn't have stopped napping!)
So after crying in a dark closet over this for a while I've decided that this isn't going to change my life in the least. If Gabriella doesn't need to sleep during the day, we will just have "quiet time" every day while Little Man sleeps. She will stay in her room and play quietly. She can listen to soft music and look at her books. It will work! It will work!! It. Will. Work.
It will work, won't it?
Keep dreaming. I hope it does work. My grandmother would make me take a nap even through my teenage years. She said if I wasn't going to nap then I could just lay there. Oh how I wish there was nap time for adults. Like right.now.
Darcy, my four-year-old, takes a nap. Almost every day. From 1:00ish to 4:00ish, I make her lay down. She is to stay in bed and stay quiet, and if she gets up, she gets in BIG trouble. Period.
She doesn't need to SLEEP, but she definitely needs that much rest. If she doesn't get it, she is Miss Crabbypantsextrordinaire. It amazes me.
Alex stopped napping when he was one year old.
Strange how kids can be soooo different!
We now have rest time instead of nap time. And it works, mostly. I allow my girls to take books or a few toys with them. Every once in a while they get really wound up, but I can tell a difference if they don't rest at all.
Oh I am dreading that day when mine does not nap. I am all for "quiet time" so I am hoping that it works for you and any tips you might want to send my way-please :) It will work!!!
I totally feel your pain. My three year old gave up his naps before he was two. So when his sister took her regular afternoon nap I enforce a "quiet" time. He got to watch a disney movie by himself of his choice and if he won't stay on the couch resting quietly while he watches then it gets turned off. I so understand your need for that time. I'm most definitely crazy-eyed and wish I had a drinking problems (well almost). Find something that she values and use that to enforce the quiet time. Good luck.
By 
Sleeping Mommy, at
8:21 PM
Boy, am I incoherent today! Look at all those gramatical errors and typos!
By Sleeping Mommy, at
8:22 PM
As long as you enforce it, it will work. My daughter tends to be very needy, so I have been making her play alone in her room for 30 minutes each day so she can learn to be by herself. So far, so good!
Goldberry
http://silverlining.typepad.com/silver_linings
By 
, at
9:07 PM
We have quiet time around here. That's when IGBD goes into her room and creates as much chaos as she can while Mommy ignores her. That meets my goal of Mommy Having One Hour of Peace.
I'm writing this as my 4yo lies in bed wide awake and wishing he could get up. I like the idea of 'quiet' time 'cause I can see that naps are becoming a thing of the past for him. Good luck to you :)
