I helped host a baby shower for our friends Karen and Benjamin this afternoon. Getting everything ready was a bit hectic, but once things got started the shower was much fun. It suddenly warmed up a lot again today, so at one point we stuck all the kiddoes in swimsuits and let them run around in the sprinklers. We also did a dads relay race as one of the games, where 2 teams of men had to run a baby doll in a toy stroller across the backyard, change its diaper, than "chug" a couple ounces of lemonade from a baby bottle... with newborn nipples on them. The best part was that one of the kids, Josie, who's 2 years old, got REALLY into it and kept on racing and changing diapers on the dolls long after the game was over. Donovan also really liked playing with the toy strollers.
Speaking of little D, both yesterday and today he's taken a long morning nap and then no nap in the afternoon at all. I'm also realizing that, while before I used to have to kinda fight to keep him up till 9am (he seemed ready for a nap sooner than that) now more and more it's me looking at the clock and deciding it's nap time even though he seems happy playing. He tends to go to sleep easily still, but then after the past 2 days... So I guess tomorrow we'll see how he does in the morning and not put him down for a nap till he shows more clear tired signs? I'm wondering if he's already transitioning to one nap a day. I was so sure I'd get to keep 2 naps for a while, since the whole first year he always took more (though shorter) naps than "average." *Sigh* So I guess we'll see. I don't think I'm ready to give up that morning break yet, but then again it'd make scheduling things in the morning a lot easier...
I usually hate baby showers but yours sounds really fun because everyone was involved!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a fun party!
ReplyDeleteR changed over to 1 nap a day about this age. She liked her afternoon nap though.
Hey, did you ever figure out any good tricks for lengthening D's naps? Finn has only ever taken 30-45 min. naps, with the very occasional hour-long one. I know he needs more though, because he gets tired again so quickly (within two hours) ... we have the dark shades and white noise and all, but nothing seems to help.
ReplyDeleteMonte
Monte--
ReplyDeleteI read a tip once to sit in your kid's room when they sleep and when you notice them start to stir (starting to wake up bu not awake yet) to try to soothe them back into sleep before they fully wake up, and then they'll sleep another cycle.
I tried it. Didn't work. D doesn't seem to have an "inbetween" stage, he's either OUT or AWAKE. Finn sounds just like D in that he took short naps and frequently. It was only right around when he turned 1 that he dropped his 3rd nap and could go 4+ hours of being awake before bedtime-- before he'd wake at 6am, nap at 8 or 8:30, last till 1pm, then take another nap at 3:30 or 4. (for his whole first, oh, 6-8 months or so it seemed he got tired and needed a nap every 1.5hrs!) It was also right around then (turned 1yr) that his naps started getting longer- more like 1 hour as a default, and sometimes 1.5 hrs. His two-nap schedule has been wake at 6am, sleep at 8 or 9am for 1 hr, then another 1-1.5hrs at 1pm.
Bottom line: I have no advice other than to wait and see. His schedule will shift over time, and hopefully he eventually starts taking longer naps like D did. You could potentially try putting him to sleep earlier at night, for some babies that works well and helps them sleep longer/better. I think babies at this age are supposed to get between 12-14hrs of total sleep over a 24hr period?