Goodbye to the Nap (sniff, sniff)

Look at that smug face. You know she's totally thinking "Woo Hoo!  No nap and I get pudding.  I'm doing this every day!!"

This week I finally faced the reality of it...Calleigh doesn't take naps any more.  Oh, she'll probably take one if she gets REALLY worn out but that just doesn't happen all that often.  I think that four of the the last five days, she hasn't napped.  I know the next best thing to the nap is to institute "quiet time" but Calleigh seems to have a very difficult time with that concept.  She'll be in her room but about every five minutes she'll come to the top of the stairs to talk to me about when it is that she can come down or that she has to go potty or when am I going to check on her.  I suppose it would help if she could tell time because then at least I could tell her, "You must stay there until 3:15 and then you come down."  The last three days I've left her come down at 3:15 but before and after, there is no quiet time for me.  Aggghh!  I so look forward to the time of day when I can just sit in silence for awhile even though I'm working.  Once she's down here, naturally, she wants to talk my head off.  It is SO tempting to just turn the TV on to entertain here but I've resisted the urge.  I know I didn't help matters on Wednesday by giving her some of my pudding.  Yes, that's part of my routine.  I have a cup of tea and a' no sugar added' pudding (Kozy Shack Tapiaco.  So good!).  Now I'm sure that's part of the allure of coming down here.  Thankfully, there is an upside or I would be even more depressed at this turn of events.  At least she's now going to bed much earlier in the evenings and we don't have to deal with that.  In fact, she was asleep within about five minutes of her 8:30 bedtime tonight.  Typically, she's not asleep until around 10:30.  So I know this is probably healthier for her.  I just have to keep telling myself that.

Oh, one other thing about the pudding.  When she had it the first day, I told her "Now Calleigh, we can't tell Aubree that you had pudding because she'll want to have some."  What do you think happened?  Yup, pretty much the first thing she says to Aubree when Aubree woke up "Aubree, we had pudding!"  Aubree gave no response (probably doesn't even know what it is because she's never had it) so Calleigh kept repeating it to her over and over again.  I'm sure Calleigh was a little disappointed to get no rise out of her.

The "no nap" paid off last night with the sleeping arrangements.  Aunt Toni and Uncle Terry came into town last night for one night.  They were passing through on their way to Avon Park and to a cruise.  They'll be back next weekend for a few days.  Anyway, they stayed in Calleigh's room last night and I had been planning on Calleigh bunking with us.  But since she didn't nap yesterday, I figured she'd fall asleep pretty easily and it was worth a shot to put her in with Aubree.  They were both very excited at this prospect.  I purchased a cot on Amazon like I had gotten for my parents house and we already had a sleeping bag from a yard sale so she was good to go.  She was so cute as she got ready for bed.  She went and picked out her dress, underwear, shoes, and hair stuff that she would need for the morning and placed it in Aubree's room next to the cot.  After I had finished the story, she flung herself on the cot, hurriedly said a prayer (before I could even turn out the light or anything) and then said "Okay, you can go."  I had anticipated that they would be asleep fairly quickly but then they were still awake when Terry and Toni got here at about 9:20 and then they got all wound up with excitement when they arrived.  Toni popped in to say "hi" and then came downstairs but then afterwards, the girls took turns yelling for them.  Calleigh would say "Toni" and then Aubree would say "Terry" and then they would bust up laughing.  Finally around 9:50 there was silence and it was like that for the rest of the night until I woke them up at 7:30 the next morning.  So overall, I think it went pretty well.

Trying out the new cot.

Aunt Toni came out with us to yard sales this morning and we had a great time as usual.  I bought my first outfit for baby brother (as we call him. Hopefully the girls will adjust to an actual name whenever one is bestowed upon him) so that was pretty exciting.  A friend of mine who has a 9-month old boy isn't having any more kids so she said I could have all her boy clothes.  I'm kind of holding out on buying a bunch of stuff until I got those clothes and assess what I need.  Of course, if I find a good deal, I'm sure I'll capitalize on it but I just don't see myself buying up stuff at $1 - $2 a piece.  Not going to happen.  Meanwhile, while we were yard sale-ing, Uncle Terry was at the Winter Park ED because he had a bad cold and ear trouble.  Honestly, Aubree must have asked Aunt Toni like 10 times, "Where's Terry?"  and Toni would repeat each time, "He's at the hospital."  And then Aubree would say "Where I was born?"  Whenever Toni would get out at a yard sale and the girls would stay in the van, each time Toni would get back in Aubree would exclaim, "Hi Toni!!"  like she hadn't seen her in months.  It was pretty cute.

Horsing around with Aunt Toni before lunch.  Calleigh looking so fatigued.  Yeah, right!

We got back to the house at about 12:45 and Calleigh starts complaining "I'm tired."  She goes upstairs before we've even eaten lunch and puts on her pajamas.  I told Toni, she hasn't napped in several days, I just can't believe she's actually tired right now.  But Calleigh continues to insist she's tired and Toni says she thinks she really is.  I knew it was a farce and it was.  She insisted on sleeping in Aubree's room but after about 20 minutes with both of them still awake, I forced her back into her own room (and then Aubree promptly went to sleep.)  And of course, a little while later, she was downstairs keeping me company whether I wanted it or not.

Going back to Wednesday...we were going to go over Yolanda and Emma's but they ended up having car troubles so it was on to plan B.  We had been talking forever about having a picnic at the playground so it ended up being a perfect day for it.  To be sitting outside having a picnic lunch with my girls on a beautiful day, really, it couldn't get much better than that.  

Yesterday was a pretty routine day.  First we did Walmart and then on to Minnehaha where Calleigh wanted to show me she could climb up the wall which she had mastered when she had last been there with Grandma. The wall turned out to be a bunch of ropes but she did climb it.  Aubree insisted on going on the "big girl" swing and I was a little apprehensive at first but she stayed on very well and she seems to like it much better than the baby swing.  Of course, I was barely pushing her out of fear she'd fall off.  It is amazing what kids can remember in their tiny brains.  As we drove by Minnehaha today, Aubree said "Ruby was there" in reference to the little girl that had been there some odd weeks ago when they went with Grandma.  Couldn't believe she remembered that.

Well, that's about it. Another week draws to a close.  Have a Happy Sabbath.