Naps Were Precious To Me

Not mine (I rarely am able to nap), my children's. Having both girls go down for a nap every day meant I had a little bit of "me" time. Time when I could clean, sew or have a chance to read the Bible without interruption. A few weeks ago that all changed. I had been fighting Heidi for two or three hours every night at bed time.

You must realize this is a child who has NEVER needed much sleep. While pregnant with her I wondered if all babies moved as much or as constantly (I found out with Hannah they don't) and used to asked Karl if our baby would ever sleep. When she was born I found out she didn't - at least not much. Therefore, until around a year ago, her bed time was anywhere between 12:00 and 1:30 am. There were a few times when I would give in to peer pressure - all those other parents looking down their noses at us, saying, "surely that can't be good for her" - and put her down at a "normal" bedtime of, say, 8:00 or so. Right on schedule, six or seven hours later, she would be up, not crying, but RUNNING back and forth in her crib and giggling. I like my sleep. I would switch back to putting her to bed at midnight and getting up at 7:00 instead of 2:00 or 3:00.

All that to say that when I couldn't get her to go to sleep at bed time I started to realize a change was needed. She knew she was to stay in bed (except to use the bathroom which she would do twenty times an hour in an effort to see what I was doing -usually trying to go to bed myself), but she would come up with incredible excuses to call me back to the bedroom. Often I would hear tears (she's a great actor folks) and go to check on her. She would be sad , "because my friend died". "That is sad", I would respond, "which one." To which she would emotionally choke out "Toma" or some other such name she had made up on the spot. She was "scared" of all the scary lions and bad wolves in her room, but once I realized I had authority over them, I would tell them all to leave the room before she even though to call me back to do so. I thought I had that licked until one night when she called me to inform me, "Momma, there's a HIPPOPOTAMUS in my room". Hmmm.
All this and I still didn't want to give up naps. When I realized how much I (not just her) was dreading bedtime every night and that it often was reducing me to tears, I finally surrendered. Heidi no longer takes naps, and she is a happy girl. She goes to bed within a couple minutes of being tucked in every night with no complaints and no excuses. It's wonderful. Except that I no longer have any alone time during the day. I try to enforce a quiet time with her, but Heidi is a chatterbox and very social. If there's someone in the same room she has to talk. When I finally get through to her that Momma needs a bit of time where I don't have to answer questions or listen to prattle, she'll start talking to herself. Not much help. So, without naps now, when do I sew? When do I clean and organize? When do I pay bills? When do I blog? When do I fit in a quiet time? I know I'll find a way sooner or later, but for now I feel a bit disjointed. I'm sure you other mothers out there have experienced this. Any advice you have to offer would be appreciated. Or, maybe I should just forget about getting anything accomplished and hire a maid. At least I can go to bed when I want to now.