the Nap Monster

Many of the houses here at the beach have fun names, cute names, play-on-words names.

As a kid I loved reading all the names and I'm teaching my children to like it too!  We spent part of the afternoon at a park (crazy winds and rough seas today so we skipped our afternoon beach session).  On the drive home we covered almost 120 blocks of beach, driving slow and reading house names.  Several times we pulled over to let traffic pass us by, but it's not a busy week here and traffic is very light :)

One of Isaac's favorites is "the Nap Monster" - a house just a block or so west of ours.  The Nap Monster is actually for sale, and if John Paul were a potential buyer, I'd nominate him as "most worthy nap-monster-ing owner".

This guy can nap!  It's one of his superpowers.

For all of you who are dreaming of a child with a napping superpower, can I remind you that for almost two years I've parented both the nap monster (John Paul) and the nap destroyer (Luke).  If anything, John Paul's monstering of the naps made Luke's constant sleep deprivation a more bitter pill to swallow.

[Quick update on Luke:  He is totally off reflux meds.  Since January he's also been on meds to help him rest!  The gastroenterologist thought that his reflux was well enough controlled but after almost two years of very little sleep his body almost *couldn't* rest.  The progress was slow, but I'm super thankful for where we are now - still on these sleep-assisting meds, but hoping to wean off of them later this year.  And he does sleep!]

Back to my nap monster.... John Paul needs to break the habit!  A few months ago it became obvious that he'd much rather nap away the afternoon and then stay up super late with Mommy and Daddy.  As fun as this plan must have sounded to him, Mommy is just not interested in a late night play session with this child (or any child, for that matter!)

At the end of the day, well, it's the end of the day.  I'm ready for lights out kiddos! (I realize this is partly selfish desire, partly realistic limitations and capacity).

So I started transitioning John Paul to an afternoon "rest/reading day".

Anyone who knows John Paul well knows that a task like "stay on this blanket and look at books" is almost impossible.  This boy was born to move.  But I was committed .... me and John Paul, working together, we could learn to do this.

Ha!

If I can get to him to stop moving, I've effectively sent him off to dreamland.  Early afternoon the equation is this one....

not in constant motion = asleep.

The result is still favorable :)  He's napping shorter, and less soundly.  A nap on the floor or the couch or the middle of the living room is much different than a deep snooze tucked under the covers in a dimly lit bedroom.

And he's ready for bed about the same time as the rest of the crew.  Can I get an AMEN on that one?!?!?!

And if John Paul is ever interested in some Brunswick County real estate, I think I know just the place for him :)