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Thursday, August 19, 2010

The Afternoon Nap

It wasn't until this week that I fully appreciated what a gift the afternoon nap is to parents. Because this week I lost it. Lost a daily two hours of quiet time to do whatever I felt like: read a book, make a nice lunch, clean up around the house, start on dinner, work in the yard, waste time on the computer, take a nap...

And now? Now I am hearing the sounds of Sam throwing books in his room, loud thumps as he jumps from God knows where onto the floor. We are attempting Quiet Time In Our Room from 1-3pm. Aggressive, I know, but he was taking two hour naps and I may as well shoot for the moon.

I'm stuck here, because the baby sleeps from 1:30-4:30pm right now and will not make it until bedtime if I wake her earlier. So I need to get creative with things to do with Sam around the house. Any ideas? He's a great little sous chef, so maybe we'll be cooking for together more.

In the meantime, I need a jolt of sugary caffeine and an attitude check. I need to remember that in two short years he will be in school and I will be missing his smiling face, his eagerly helpful hands, his sturdy warm arms wrapping around my neck, and his wiggly body running and thudding and jumping around the house. These years when my children are home with me will be gone, never to return. So.

So, I need to remember that as I yawn and look at the clock and think how many hours until Scott gets home...

How do single mothers do it?

3 comments:

astapp said...

Oh, my friend, I am so sad with you at the loss of Sam's nap! I think a 2 hour quiet time is a great idea. How's Sam going for it? Does Charlotte nap in the morning too? It's been too long. Miss you.

Anita Johnson said...

I'm tired just thinking about it.

Kristin M. said...

Hopefully you can get Charlotte on a napping schedule so she's asleep when Sam's at preschool? I don't know what I'd do without those quiet napping times. They are so neccesary for sanity. Does he have any super favorite quiet toys that maybe he can only play with during his quiet time?