The Result....

Well, for the past few weeks we have been fighting and fighting and fighting with Eliana over naps and bedtime. She used to be very predictable... down for a nap around noon, sleep until 4:00, down for bed at 8, sleep until 8. It was great!

A few weeks ago, though, she started fighting us on naps. She hasn't been ready for a nap until about 3:00 or later, and she sleeps for 2 hours. Then she's not ready for bed until much later than 8. There are tantrums, she got out of bed repeatedly, she climbed out of the crib when we put here in there to contain her... it was not good.

So yesterday I did something I have not been looking forward to. I cut out her nap. She's just barely two, but she cannot keep the schedule she was on, with a two hour late afternoon nap followed by sleeping from about 10:30 (or later!) to 8. She was waking up grumpy from naps and in the morning and it was just wearing her (and us!) down. It called for desperate measures, and so we cut out her one and only nap.

The result? She was pretty tired yesterday around 3:30 (as usual) but instead of putting her down to sleep I just let her watch a movie. She curled up on my bed with a blanket and her milk and watched the movie. Though she was pretty drowsy, she didn't fall asleep. She had a couple hours of down time, and then she was up and running again! Leif put her to bed around 7:45 or so and she didn't fight him. And she slept until after 8 this morning! I don't actually know what time she got up, because she woke me up! But Leif left a little before 8 and she wasn't awake yet, so he just left her door open so she could come find me when she did wake up. And she came in at 8:20.

So that's what we have. A 2 year old who didn't take a nap and for the first day in several weeks, it went smoothly. There may still be days where she'll need a nap, especially if we're out and about and she gets worn out in the morning. But if she isn't asleep before 2:00 I'm not going to let her sleep. That was a miserable pattern. We'll wean her off the movies some other time, but for now it's the only way I can find for her to sit still for down time. And she definitely needs that down time still! But today was good. She had a couple freak-out tantrums (mostly when she was tired right before down time and bed), but those are pretty standard these days. She's 2. So we'll see how today goes and take it one nap-less day at a time.