A little chat....

Today I had a chat with Hannah before nap time (well actually we chatted yesterday after nap time and several times throughout the day today about this) about what she should do when she wakes up from a nap.  For those that don't know, my child is not a sleeper!  She has been a horrible napper since the beginning and I've basically just learned to deal with it.  I started with the one hour rule, where I would leave her for one hour, no matter what.  She would normally sleep for just 30-45 minutes and then scream the remaining 15-30 minutes.  Oh the joy.  She finally started stretching her nap out to closer to one hour, so I extended the time I left her in her crib to one and a half hours.  I know that this extra 30 minutes will be crucial once Emma arrives.  So now I leave her for a full hour and a half, no matter what.  For the first month or so of doing this, things were GREAT!  She slept for 1.5-2 hours everyday....unheard of for Hannah!  But in the last week, things have changed.  She is starting to go back to the 45 minute naps (1 hour tops) and then screaming bloody murder for the rest of the time.  So frustrating!  The hardest part was knowing that if she would just sleep for the full hour and a half, she would wake up happy and well rested, instead of cranky and screaming!  What was the deal?  So I knew it was time to have a chat.  Have you ever tried having a civilized conversation with a two year old?  Not the easiest thing!  I have no idea what she understood of our conversation, but I tried to use the simplest language I could to explain to her that mommy always comes and never forgets her.  She doesn't need to scream or cry, but can instead play quietly with her toys until mommy comes.  She said "ok mommy" as if this idea had never occurred to her and said, "night night mommy" as I put her down for her nap.  Hmmm....we'll see.

It's been just over an hour now since I put her down and she just started fussing a few minutes ago....at almost exactly the one hour mark.  BUT....she stopped!  It is now silent in her room and I am praying that our chat worked.  I will listen even more closely in another 30 minutes to see if she is awake and if so I will get her up, feeling very successful!  Ultimately, I don't care if she sleeps, I just want her to rest her body and give herself (and ME!) a break. 

Thank you Lord for a few extra moments of silence today!  May this continue for many months to come! :-)