The Nonexistent Nap

The past few days Charlie has been fighting his naps with more fervor than usual. Sometimes nothing would get him to go down and I would just give up and try again later. Other times a combination of rocking, holding his arms and legs down, shushing in his ear, trying to give him a little formula and tapping his butt simultaneously has worked. That process requires about four arms, but I digress...

I tried keeping him home to get better naps. No luck. So yesterday, exhausted from the battles, I decided to try and get him to nap out on the road. That is the only way he has ever 'nodded off' on his own. Unfortunately, I must report that it went just as badly as when we were home. He took 15 minute naps and was super cranky by the late afternoon.

Last night Joe walked in the door and relief poured over me, like it always does when he comes home. I honestly have no idea how single parents do it, I don't feel like I would be capable. I guess they have no choice and just find a way to get through it, but nevertheless it is awe-inspiring. Joe put the bean to sleep which gave me time to clean up the kitchen, make bottles, run a load of clothes and just breath.

I decided to go to bed early; the days of constantly having to entertain the bean without downtime because of the nonexistent naps had my brain feeling par boiled. And then I woke up this morning, not at 2am, 3am, or 4am like I usually do...but at ten to 7am!!

Charlie wasn't even crying, he was cheerfully carrying on a conversation with his feet. The irony of it all is that my body feels worse for the extra sleep, perhaps it is so accustomed to the deprivation it doesn't know how to react to 7 1/2 uninterrupted hours of shuteye. Or maybe it's the fact that I need to catch up on 6 months of sleep, not one night ;o)