No more nappy

As I'm sitting here at my refuge-- I mean, computer desk-- all I can hear from upstairs is loud thuds, banging on walls and some kind of screaming/singing about climbing and Kermit the frog.  I knew this day would come.  The day of no more napping.  The day of infamy.

It's been almost a week now, which is how I know that it's official.  I thought that maybe the change of scenery over the Easter weekend might be enough to shake things up and get back to normal once we got home, but something tells me that nap time is definitely over.  And I'm nowhere near ready to accept it.

The culprit?

Bam:

The toddler bed.

It's actually a really good thing, for the most part.  Niall has had this toddler bed set up in his room since he started climbing out of his crib 6 months ago.  But when we tried out the big boy bed, he had this sudden shift of miraculous obedience and decided that he wanted to stay in his crib. Never tried to climb out again after that (so bizarre!).

We were obviously fine with that because we wouldn't have to worry about him getting out of bed and trying to leave the room... but time has started ticking for Brendan to move into that room and that crib.  So I put a date in my head of May 1.  I wanted to get Niall used to the idea, so I've been saying things like "Hey, do you want to move into your new bed soon?" or "Wow, those train sheets are so cool-- much cooler than the crib sheets."  But he had no interest.

Until...

Last week, I said "Hey Niall, do you want Brendan to move into your room with you?"  He immediately replied with a booming "Yeah!!!" 

Well, the very next day, Niall told us he wanted to sleep in his bed and hasn't turned back since.  Matt and I cringed that first night, just waiting for Niall to leave his bed and come running to the door, but he never did! 

So I really can't complain; it's just the nap that has been affected.  He gets right out of bed and runs around his room-- which I'm actually fine with, as long as he's not begging to come out...  but that usually comes full throttle after about 30 minutes.

I do have a safety gate up at the door, so at least he can't get out, but he sure can put on a good crying show.  I told him today that if he didn't want to take a nap, he could have "quiet reading time" in his room.  I'm just not sure if I can expect a 2 year old to spend 2 hours entertaining himself in his room... or if I can even trust him in there.

But I NEED those 2 hours!  There's so much I have to get done during that little chunk of time and I just don't think I can do it with him awake. Checking emails, making appointments, going through the never-ending mail pile, writing a blog a few times each week, cleaning, doing laundry, checking the bank statement, and chipping away at the ongoing to-do list. It would take at least 3 times longer if he were "helping" me, which is what he always wants to do.

The bottom line is that, with babies and toddlers, as soon as you get used to things being a certain way, they're gonna go and change on you.  You constantly need to adapt, and somehow, you always find a way to make it work.  Unfortunately, I think my way of making this work out is that the laundry, cleaning and to-do list are just going to be "indefinitely suspended" a lot more often than I would like.

Oh hey wait, look what I just found:

Ok, so it's not technically a nap in the bed, but I'll take what I can get.  Better go get some work done while I have a chance!

Niall loves your votes!