Mommy Needs A Nap

When Girl X was about 18 months old she gave up naps. There was no warning, no compromise. She simply decided that naps were beneath her and that was that.

Hurricane, always in a hurry to outdo his older sibling, has decided that 16 months is the right time to give up naps.
I pleaded with him. I swore that Lent was over and he could nap, it was totally ok with G-d if he slept. He looked at me as though I had lost my mind.
I laid down with him.
He poked me in the eye and said 'ball!'
I pretended to be asleep.
He took the opportunity to pull his diaper off and pee on my pillow.

I tried to wear him down by letting him run free through the yard, which in retrospect was really stupid since I found out this morning that we have moles. At least, that's what I'm assuming it means when you find giant piles of dirt randomly appearing in your yard. Sometimes right in front of your eyes.
Hurricane thought this was fun. A perfect place to sit and roll around.
If those moles had any sense at all they would quiver in fear at the mere hint of odor being emitted from those diapers as he is still full of gas from being sick last week. Who needs poison? We can get noxious gas for free.
I brought him back into the house and changed his clothes. I carefully washed his face and hands as he chattered non-stop.
Suddenly I miss last week when all he wanted was to curl up in my arms and sleep all day.
He ate. And ate.

And ate.

How a body so tiny can stash so much food is beyond me. Pizza, pancakes, veggie puffs, crackers, cheese, pb & J, pears, the ice cream Mr X gave him because he thought it was funny that Hurricane kept loudly 'MMMMM'ing at him. And then more because Hurricane wouldn't stop making the sign for 'more' and bumping him. And of course by bumping I mean slamming all 22 lbs of lean sleepless boy.
Recently he has taken to hitting his head on whatever solid object is handy in answer to being told 'no' or simply not getting his way. The walls are a favorite way to accomplish this. He now has a lovely eggplant bruise on his head.
His sister shakes her head and rolls her eyes until I tell her that she used to do the same thing.
To top it all off, he has decided that he no longer needs to sleep through the night. Sleep is his issue, for Girl X it was food.
First it was getting him to sleep in his own bed. This meant putting him in while he was awake. Putting him in while asleep meant he would wake up within 20 minutes and freak right the hell out.
It also meant *gasp* letting him cry. I know this is a touchy subject for many people, but it worked for us. I feel like you have to do whatever works for your family and that's that. If we all spent a little less time worrying about what everyone else was doing and a little more caring for our own, I would have a lot fewer headaches. And ok, so the world would probably be a better place too.
By 10 months of age I was still getting up with him once a night until he finally decided that it was boring to play with mommy at 2 am because she just kind of sat there and stared at him with squinty eyes.
Then we decided to see if we could get him to sleep not only through the night but also until 7:30.
It worked until he got sick.
I am trying to convince myself that it's just a fluke. Surely he'll start napping again tomorrow. Right?
Come on internet, lie to me!