Tuesday, September 28, 2010

She finally gives up her afternoon nap:)

Ok, I can hear you say "what, did I read this title right?" yes, you did:)

My 6 and half year old Rebekah finally gave up her afternoon nap a couple weeks ago!

You see, she kept sleeping and I kept encouraging it and she kept sleeping and I kept encouraging it and then she started resisting but I still kept encouraging it, so she kept sleeping....until recently one day she didn't sleep and started crying and telling me it's boring to sleep! Point taken! I gave in and now she no longer naps, boo hoo! No not really, I'm really ok with it:)

It's amazing how a couple months ago I noticed a real change in her and others started commenting too that she was starting to "look" more grown up. Well, I think she reached some sort of developmental milestone and so the nap going out the window was part of it I think. I also noticed along with this that she has become much more independent in her free time, being able to keep herself entertained much more etc.
Children do indeed come with their own time tables don't they! I mean I only have one but when I compare her to other kids, it's easy for me to see how they are all so different to each other!

On the upside, with all this "growing up" that's happened, I feel I have so much more energy now. It's taken me this long to figure out that a lot of my tiredness was emotional - you see as I've told you before, I'm the classic introvert. Add to this a highly dependent child (in terms of companionship, being her playmate and being very clingy when she was younger etc) and it all makes for one tired mum here!
I have a lot more energy now at the end of the day, hallelujah! (That explains my frequent blogging and commenting at your place!)

So, we've transitioned now to the "quiet time" or "rest time" in the afternoon as some mums call it:) And I now need to go google and find out when they give up their "rest times" :(

17 comments:

Sarah said...

Glad to hear you have more energy! It's not nice to be feeling dragged down all the time. I don't think we should ever grow out of some rest time no matter what the age is. It's important to rest hey! xxx

Ganeida said...

lol They don't *give up* rest time! They morph into teenagers who sleep half the day & rage all night! It exhausts me & I'm not the one doing it!

Amanda said...

Rosemary, you are a wonderful Mum! I just know it ;)

I laughed a little through this post... I really enjoyed reading this actually... seeing a bit more of your life shining through (a peek through your window, so to speak lol).

Tea said...

Naptime is something I look forward to each day. I love my time with my little guy, but time to myself is so refreshing. He's only 2 1/2, so I hope naptime sticks around for a while here. ;)

Bek said...

Wow my children all stopped the afternoon sleep really early :( We still have quiet time in the holidays I encourage it my 8 year old still has this. In the holidays we either read a book or put on a movie. It is hard to continue the quiet time when they are at school the school my kids go to the preps have a quiet time in the afternoon and they faze it our durning the second semester to get the ready for year one.
PS I enjoyed reading your blog glad I found it

Richele said...

Oh, Rosemary, you took me right back to being four or five and absolutely hating nap time. My sister and I would openly come out with our eyes closed as we thought no one could see us if we couldn't see them.

We don't do it in the summer but we have "quiet time" during the winter where the kids are each in their own room reading, working on a handicraft, drawing or something similar.

Some years ago a 70-year-old neighbor told me she had done this with all five of her children and it seemed like a good idea. I reconnect with the Lord and then do office work during that time.

Jeanne said...

We still do 'quiet time'most afternoons. It sort of recharges the batteries, I think. I'm highly in favour of the 'nanna nap' too. Do you think I can introduce this before I'm a nanna?

Joyfulmum said...

Bek - welcome and thanks for visiting my blog:) yes, quiet time at school would be difficult lol!
Jeanne - if you can have a nanna nap then why not I say? :)
Richele - oh dear! I wonder what Rebekah will tell me when she grows up and reads this blog post!!! My disclaimer is she takes after her mum and needs lots of sleep:)
Ganeida - yes, that will be the day when I head off to bed and she's up later than me, that seems a long way away but I know that time will soon be here!
Tea - my words of "unsolicited" advice (lol) - keep the routine going and naps will stick around for a while:)

Amy said...

Lord, I hope rest time never goes away! It's a lifesaver! :) You did amazingly well to keep Rebekah napping as long as you did! Glad you are feeling more energetic too! Maybe now I can tempt you to meet up! ;) xo

Joyfulmum said...

Yea I hope so too Amy!
and yes I will have more energy for you too:)

Rebecca said...

wow! good on you for encouraging rest. My dd wakes very early each morning so she has an afternoon nap about 4 days a week. I have learned not to anticipate her napping though, because if *I* really wanted her to nap and she didn't, I'd get frustrated with her: not a nice thing.

Finding Joy said...

Rosemary, on weekend I have an afternoon nap, it is a lovely time of peace and quiet! I think it so extra sleepmthat I need. We start having naps as children and we return to them as we get older.

Amanda said...

Rosemary, I LOVE your new header! It is gorgeous!!

Anonymous said...

Hey, I would have kept going with the nap too! Love your new header. xo

Joyfulmum said...

Thanks Amanda and Jo!
Jo, yes, I have not returned to afternoon naps lol:) I am unfortunatley one of those people that can't sleep in the aftenoons, well not most of the time anyway:)
Rebecca I know what you mean!better not to expect and get frustrated:)
loved hearing all your comments:)

Deborah said...

I love it when the girlies have their afternoon sleeps - I have really come to appreciate and enjoy the quietness. Definitely a great way to recharge and get more energy.

Mrs B said...

Nap time is mandatory here... dd8 sleeps 2-3 days a week depending on how tired... reads on her bed the other days... Ds7 same as dd and ds2.5 sleeps every day for 2 hours... all my friends say their kids won't sleep during the day from as early as 14mo-2.5 years... I never give mine a choice... obedience first... lay still with eyes closed... if they do that for half an hour and they're still not asleep, I can see naps need to start a slow reduction.
We all need that quiet time... sanity for all :o)