Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Transitions

The post in which I speak of two transitions, totally unrelated to each other.

1. Transitions, or changes, in a friendship. This has been on my mind for a while now, and Maggie's post on the matter really brought it to the forefront. I'm not going to get into details here, but suffice it to say that I have a long-term friendship that is on very shaky ground right now and I'm not sure it is salvageable. I've reached out to this person and am pretty sure she would have liked it better if I hadn't. But if you know me at all, you know I am all about Not Letting It Go and Very Good at Hand Wringing. I know that as life goes on, and as time goes by, people change. I know I've changed so it's only fair to think that she has too. And maybe our friendship wasn't ever destined to weather those changes. Some days I hope I'm wrong in that assumption and other days I know it would be best to let it be and close that chapter. It's really up to her at this point as I've requested a "talk" and am waiting for her response. Is that the right thing to do? I don't know.

2. The dreaded Two Nap to One Nap transition. Talk about Hand Wringing, my goodness. (And see? Told you these were not related one bit.) Noah WANTS to nap in the morning and for HOURS. I WANT him to nap in the afternoon and for HOURS. So we want the same length of nap just not at the same time. Yesterday we successfully made it through his usual morning nap time by running errands and handing over gobs of cheerios and had a THREE hour afternoon nap. Success! Today? Today is a different story. Even though he slept a good 12.5 hours last night, he was clawing his eyes out at 10 am (his usual nap time). I waited. And I waited. And I tried to keep him busy, but you know what? The screeching makes my ears bleed. So I put him in his crib at 11. It is now 11:30 and I know I should go get him soon so as not to ruin the afternoon nap. So, I'm going. Here I go. Maybe I need a chocolate reinforcement first. Anyone have any advice? Do I Go With It as he decides it and have a few weeks (MONTHS???!!!) of No Schedule? Gah. I'm not sure about you but that sounds downright awful. Or do I get out of the house every morning and stay out until lunchtime so as to diffuse his need for that morning nap? ADVICE STAT.



Careful. It bites.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, that picture kills.

The transition from 2 to 1 naps SUCKS. We went literally WEEKS not knowing when/how long/WHERE she would nap. Then DH was hurt at work and got to stay home with her for a few weeks while he recuperated. He started putting her down daily at 11:30. Every day, without fail.

Now she goes down every day at 11:30 and sleeps for 2-3 hours. It is FABULOUS. It's not the late afternoon nap that I treasured, but it's enough time to get stuff done and eat some lunch and prepare for the afternoon.

FAR fewer tantrums now. FAR. I hope you guys can find something that works for all of you... it's a tough transition for sure!

(We're dealing with the Transition to No Bottle now. Hold me).

Anonymous said...

Transitions SUCK!

As I may have mentioned, we went four MONTHS without a schedule. Possibly this was my fault as I refused to give in and do what bessieviola is doing. I could NOT deal with an 11:30 nap. The afternoon would have killed me. So I did the late morning wake-them-up-before they-sleep-too-long thing. But I wouldn't say it WORKED. People say just to try gradually putting them down later and later in the morning and eventually it will move to the afternoon. I think this is true. But they don't give you an end date and that is the part that makes me INSANE.

k said...

Okay, I just read your ENTIRE blog and can I just say that the picture to the post "Mama said there'd be days like this" made me laugh out loud in my office.

Sweet Lord I remember days (oh yes, plural) exactly like that one.