5 years ago
Showing posts with label naps. Show all posts
Showing posts with label naps. Show all posts
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Naps and other fun stuff!
I thought I would take a moment to give an update on Graham's napping schedule and other fun things. Sorry, no pics in this post!
So after about a 2 month transition, we are officially down to one nap a day. Graham was napping for an hour in the am (10-11) and 2 or 2.5 hours in the afternoons (2-4ish). About two months ago he started really fighting the afternoon nap, but not sleeping any longer in the morning. So, we did a few days without the morning nap, and moved the afternoon one earlier. The result? He was ok for a day or two , but but the third day of this, he started waking at night, getting up a bit earlier, having a hard time going to sleep at night, and boy was he cranky! It wasn't fun. Then, as you remember he got sick a few times, so I went back to two naps each time he was sick. He went back to two no problem. Then we started doing one naps days on just two days a week, and one weekend day. That seemed to be the best way to help Graham transition. It was like every other day, he needed those two naps. Now, we are officially down to one nap at 1 pm. It has taken a few weeks, but this nap keeps getting longer as I had hoped. He generally sleeps 1-3:30 or 4. He has started waking up a bit earlier in the mornings, around 7:30 opposed to 8ish, but that is OK. I bet once it is darker in the am this will change again.Though we got blackout shades for his room, best $$ ever spent. I had a pretty ghetto system of black trash bags after the blinds pulled down, and before the curtains, so you couldn't see them from the outside of the house, nor from the inside as long as the curtains were closed (which they always are). Anyway, they actually worked fantastically, his room was sooo dark, but with the weather getting nice, I wanted to be able to open the windows, and my trash bag system didn't allow for that! So, I ordered the blackout shades, and they are so great. If you don't have them on your baby's windows, I highly recommend them! So, that is the nap update, at 16 months I can say Graham naps once a day. I am pretty sure though if I were to put him down for two, he would still gladly sleep! His bedtime hasn't changed, he still goes to bed at 7. It is so funny how in tune he is with our daily routine. At 6:27 or so everyday, he starts going over to the stairs, and shaking the gate and says "baph" (bath) over and over. He just knows when it is bathtime! All other things too...he does the same with all his meals, when we are getting ready to go somewhere. He really gets our daily routines, and loves it!
Let's see, what else? He is talking non stop! I continue to be shocked at how many words he has. I really can't count them anymore. The one word he refuses to say???Mama. It was actually his first word, he used to so ay it all the time when he was 8-11 months...especially when he was hungry, he would come to me saying "mama" over and over. Now he doesn't say it hardly at all! He actually thinks its funny, I ask him to point to Mama and say Mama, he points and giggles and runs away. The word he loves to say? Daddy. for the longest time he would say "dat" for daddy, now he is saying Daddy. Another favorite, doggies. He even has a few phrases he says , "we go" when he wants to go outside or just leave in general, Hi Daddy, or Hi doggies, big ball, big truck, and tons of others. He know where I keep all his snacks, and will go to the pantry saying"cracker" and doing the sign for cracker over and over until someone gives him a snack! He is starting to know some colors. He definitely knows, says, and identifies blue, and can also recognize pink and orange. Random colors I know, but those are the colors of our sidewalk chalk! He continues to love buses as well. I really feel bad for him that school is almost out and the bus won't be going by! He searches like a hawk for them when we are in the car, and finds them hundreds of hundreds of feet away. The bus goes by at 8:20 and 12:45 each day where he can see them from the back kitchen window. I try to have him looking out the window and eating at these times so he can look for his busses. Simple pleasures, right?
He continues to love to read books, will bring them to us to read all the time, and knows a lot of them by heart. Speaking of hearts...he will pat my chest and say"hawt". It's very sweet. He continues to amaze me on a daily basis of all he can do. He is so happy, silly, and just so fun to be around. There were days when he was around 9 months old that I truly started to morn the loss of his babyhood, but a friend told me (thanks Megan!) that it truly does get better and better, and she was right!! At least until he turns on me as a teenager! Ha! Got to run, nap time seems to be over, it's 3:30, like clockwork!
So after about a 2 month transition, we are officially down to one nap a day. Graham was napping for an hour in the am (10-11) and 2 or 2.5 hours in the afternoons (2-4ish). About two months ago he started really fighting the afternoon nap, but not sleeping any longer in the morning. So, we did a few days without the morning nap, and moved the afternoon one earlier. The result? He was ok for a day or two , but but the third day of this, he started waking at night, getting up a bit earlier, having a hard time going to sleep at night, and boy was he cranky! It wasn't fun. Then, as you remember he got sick a few times, so I went back to two naps each time he was sick. He went back to two no problem. Then we started doing one naps days on just two days a week, and one weekend day. That seemed to be the best way to help Graham transition. It was like every other day, he needed those two naps. Now, we are officially down to one nap at 1 pm. It has taken a few weeks, but this nap keeps getting longer as I had hoped. He generally sleeps 1-3:30 or 4. He has started waking up a bit earlier in the mornings, around 7:30 opposed to 8ish, but that is OK. I bet once it is darker in the am this will change again.Though we got blackout shades for his room, best $$ ever spent. I had a pretty ghetto system of black trash bags after the blinds pulled down, and before the curtains, so you couldn't see them from the outside of the house, nor from the inside as long as the curtains were closed (which they always are). Anyway, they actually worked fantastically, his room was sooo dark, but with the weather getting nice, I wanted to be able to open the windows, and my trash bag system didn't allow for that! So, I ordered the blackout shades, and they are so great. If you don't have them on your baby's windows, I highly recommend them! So, that is the nap update, at 16 months I can say Graham naps once a day. I am pretty sure though if I were to put him down for two, he would still gladly sleep! His bedtime hasn't changed, he still goes to bed at 7. It is so funny how in tune he is with our daily routine. At 6:27 or so everyday, he starts going over to the stairs, and shaking the gate and says "baph" (bath) over and over. He just knows when it is bathtime! All other things too...he does the same with all his meals, when we are getting ready to go somewhere. He really gets our daily routines, and loves it!
Let's see, what else? He is talking non stop! I continue to be shocked at how many words he has. I really can't count them anymore. The one word he refuses to say???Mama. It was actually his first word, he used to so ay it all the time when he was 8-11 months...especially when he was hungry, he would come to me saying "mama" over and over. Now he doesn't say it hardly at all! He actually thinks its funny, I ask him to point to Mama and say Mama, he points and giggles and runs away. The word he loves to say? Daddy. for the longest time he would say "dat" for daddy, now he is saying Daddy. Another favorite, doggies. He even has a few phrases he says , "we go" when he wants to go outside or just leave in general, Hi Daddy, or Hi doggies, big ball, big truck, and tons of others. He know where I keep all his snacks, and will go to the pantry saying"cracker" and doing the sign for cracker over and over until someone gives him a snack! He is starting to know some colors. He definitely knows, says, and identifies blue, and can also recognize pink and orange. Random colors I know, but those are the colors of our sidewalk chalk! He continues to love buses as well. I really feel bad for him that school is almost out and the bus won't be going by! He searches like a hawk for them when we are in the car, and finds them hundreds of hundreds of feet away. The bus goes by at 8:20 and 12:45 each day where he can see them from the back kitchen window. I try to have him looking out the window and eating at these times so he can look for his busses. Simple pleasures, right?
He continues to love to read books, will bring them to us to read all the time, and knows a lot of them by heart. Speaking of hearts...he will pat my chest and say"hawt". It's very sweet. He continues to amaze me on a daily basis of all he can do. He is so happy, silly, and just so fun to be around. There were days when he was around 9 months old that I truly started to morn the loss of his babyhood, but a friend told me (thanks Megan!) that it truly does get better and better, and she was right!! At least until he turns on me as a teenager! Ha! Got to run, nap time seems to be over, it's 3:30, like clockwork!
Monday, January 5, 2009
Nap update
The holidays were so fun, but they definitely took their toll on Graham. He wasn't sure if he was coming or going by New Years! He actually did well in the moment, but the cumulative effect of travel, staying up later, missing naps, etc. made him a little cranky, and disrupted his sleep patterns a bit. I thought maybe he was telling me it was time to go to one nap (again) but I thought I should just try to stick to our normal schedule for at least a week before I go changing things on him yet again. After a few days of him not settling down to sleep for his second nap I thought it may be time to give up that morning nap. When I say not settling down, he really doesn't cry, he just chatters and babbles in his crib, some crying in there sometimes, but not enough for me to go rescue him. He will talk and play (with what, I don't know but he is entertained!), then after about 30-40 min, there is silence. This is abnormal for Graham. Normally I put him down, and to la la land he goes. So, I chose to stick with our 10 and 2 nap schedule, and sure enough after a few odd days, he is back into it.Sticking to a sleep schedule really does help him stay happy.
He is even nursing way less at 2 pm, so that feeding is about to go. Probably by the end of the week I think we will be done with it.
That brings me to another subject, weaning. If anyone has any advice on how to get baby boy to enjoy cow's milk, please let me know. I am simply offering it to him in a sippy several times a day. He really doesn't like it, but today he actually drank a good 2 oz. of it. So, maybe he will start liking it better. I think he will be weaned by the end of the month. Though, I really don't think it will be too hard for him. He has never been the type that nurses for comfort other than those two times. I think I will have a harder time with it than he will!
He is even nursing way less at 2 pm, so that feeding is about to go. Probably by the end of the week I think we will be done with it.
That brings me to another subject, weaning. If anyone has any advice on how to get baby boy to enjoy cow's milk, please let me know. I am simply offering it to him in a sippy several times a day. He really doesn't like it, but today he actually drank a good 2 oz. of it. So, maybe he will start liking it better. I think he will be weaned by the end of the month. Though, I really don't think it will be too hard for him. He has never been the type that nurses for comfort other than those two times. I think I will have a harder time with it than he will!
Monday, December 1, 2008
Napping..or not.
As you can see from the picture, Graham has always been a happy boy when he wakes up from naps! I have been very blessed from day one (OK, week 3, but close enough!) to have an excellent sleeper. Graham loves to snuggle in and take good long naps. He has always been on a really good schedule, for both eating and sleeping. He slept every two hours during the day until he was about 4 months old, then went to a really consistent 3 nap schedule. That quickly turned to a two nap schedule, which, until the last week or so, has never changed. Some may think he sleeps too much, but he really gets cranky if he misses a nap, and/or will wake at night (but only cry out a few times, then go back to sleep). I know others may think I am a bit of a nap nazi, but once visotors are done playing with him, I am left with Mr. Crankypants, alone. Not fun. So, I turned into a nap nazi for my own sanity! I rarely mess with nap time, and I honestly believe the benefits of a well rested, well scheduled little guy far outweigh the fact that I am tied to the house for a big part of the day. Graham's sleep schedule has been as follows, wake at 8 or 8:30, nap from 10-11, second nap from 1:30 to 4, bed at 7:30. See why I like it? It's been great, I have never been able to play the "I'm a new mom and not sleeping card". Anyway, the last week, our world has been turned upside down! Mr. Man has decided to change things up. A lot of factors could be the culprit, teething, a cold, growth spurt, etc. Yet, none of these have bothered him in the past, why now? So, I tend to think it's simply that my baby boy is growing up and needing less zzz's. He has been waking up around 7:30, napping fine in the morning, but resisting going down for the afternoon nap until almost 3. The problem with that...he will keep sleeping until 6 then not go down for bed! So I have been letting him sleep until 5, then wake up up for dinner and to play a little before going down at 7:30. I am not a fan of this schedule! So, I am pretty sure we are ready to drop down to one nap. Most of what I have read says that this happens somewhere between 1 and 2, with most babies doing the transition around 15 months. So today I started my transition plan! I decided that we should try to get this figured out before other major changes occur, traveling for the holidays, and stopping nursing ( a whole other issue I will probably get into later). The plan is this, morning nap still needs to happen for a while, but it's going to be shorter. Today he went down at 9:45, I woke him at 10:30 for storytime at the library. He went down for afternoon nap just after 2, and with minimal fuss...but there was still a little bit! My goal is to keep shortening the morning nap over the course of the next few weeks, and moving the afternoon nap as close to 12:30 as I can. I am pretty sure he will still sleep for a long nap say 1-4. Hopefully my plan will work, as I know my little guy, he needs his sleep, but we can get him back on a schedule that is good for both of us!
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