Naptime resolved

So last week's nap weirdness seems to be gone now. After last Monday, Olivia did not nap all week except in the car. Luckily, we were busy and had a lot of places to go. We did have a lot of sleep-deprived meltdowns and were introduced to the ear-piercing meltdown wail, but her nighttime sleep returned to normal, so we were just thankful for that. One night of a return-to-infanthood sleep pattern was enough for me, thank you very much.

Saturday and Sunday, Olivia went down for her nap with no problem and slept for 3-4 hours. This is a wee bit longer than the daily routine, but I expected her to be making up for a week without a nap.

Today, it was a little harder to get her to go down for nap. She crawled out of her crib once, filled her diaper with a stinky surprise, and then opened the door to come out and present it to me. New diaper, back in bed. Standing child, crying and hiking her leg over the rail. Stern Mommy saying "quiet time, Olivia, take a nap". Close door, walk away. Come back in 10 minutes. Sleeping toddler still in crib.

Thanks, Stephanie, for the advice. Clearly, she didn't WANT to take a nap, but she eventually laid down and fell asleep anyway.

And, we are going to keep the crib awhile longer. She can obviously escape the crib, but she knows that she is not supposed to get out. She knows that if she wants to obey, she should stay in the crib and try to fall asleep (or sit in the crib until we get her out when she wakes up). And, surprisingly, she does seem to want to obey, mostly.

I think, for Olivia, the crib represents structure and boundaries. It's comforting to have those gates around her. It's funny...we have a few baby gates around here, and she has come to respect the gates. She doesn't bother them much when they are up, and when they are not up, she tries to put them up. I think she just appreciates her boundaries. They make life feel predictable and safe.

It sure makes our life easier, too. We can give her more freedom to roam around without constant fear that she'll destroy something she's not supposed to touch. Not that she is immune to that, but she's getting better at respecting things she's forbidden to have.