We are in Mourning

I knew it would happen someday but I just kept thinking, "not in my house, not with my kid." Then it did. It didn't even start off slowly it was just a one day turn around and now there seems to be no going back.

Nap time. It used to be a blissful, though short feeling for me, two sometimes three hours. Then H and I had the bright idea to set up her toddler bed. Which by the way it is so not cool to go all judgy on Moms who do things at a different time than you. They do know their own kid after all and if that kid (T.D.) seems ready for a bed DO NOT preach about how "that is why she isn't napping...". It started at Nana's and continued here, it's not the toddler bed. Eesh! Anyway, we got her all excited about a 'big girl' bed and took down the front rail of the her crib. Now it's a nice low to the ground day bed. I even purchased a side rail that goes halfway across in a very D.L. situation that had me whispering to a seemingly frightened Babies R Us clerk. Don't ask. I have no plans to sue that clerk if the side rail doesn't work out but said clerk seemed fearful of recommending it to me despite me practically taking a blood oath that I wouldn't sue if my kid didn't like a mesh side rail. Wow. I wonder who she has dealt with in the past.

Needless to say the bed has worked out well. She likes it. She also doesn't get out of it at bedtime. Only nap time. Three hours I tell you. Three hours for a one hour nap. In that time I hear her dresser drawers opening and closing. There is scuffling above me as I work making it sound as if we have rabid squirrels living overhead. On one particular day I heard her bedroom door pop open and she emerged in a pink ski hat carrying a Target tote bag. Ooh la la tres chic! She does NOT like it when I remove her fashionable garments and place her back in bed. I will not back down though. Nap time is a must in our house. Even if no nap is involved.

So now nap times go something like this-

1 p.m.- Nap time T.D., night night! I cover her up and close the door. The crying begins.

1:10- Footsteps and squeals of delight are heard. She is talking to Elmo, Baby and anyone else who will listen. She calls the dog for help. The dog is napping.

1:22- Drawers open. Books are strewn around the room. If you were to peek inside you would find diapers meticulously laid out in rows as neat as a pin. Scary. I felt I shouldn't be looking.

1:45- Crying begins in earnest followed by ominous sounds of silence. Hopeful silence as I pray she is asleep.

2:03- Nope. Not asleep! I go back in her room and lay her back down. She cries hard and is red in the face. Crocodile tears rain down. The indignation of a big girl in a big girl bed having to take a nap!

More of the same transpires for the next hour. Then silence again. If I am lucky it is because sleep has found her. Nap time officially begins and the clock is running. I have an one hour.

So goodbye to the ready-set-nap days of two or more hours. My little girl no longer deems them necessary. It is with deep sadness that I let that long nap time go. Mommy needed those naps as much as T.D. still does! She is growing up. Shorter naptimes mean so much more than less work time for me. It is as if toddlerhood is in full effect and her baby days are gone forever.