5 Dollars and 3 Naps

Well it turns out that the problem was probably the third nap. When Ian has three naps, he wakes up too early. He only had 2 naps on Wednesday and Thursday, and on Thursday and Friday morning he got up between 5:35-5:40 both mornings. On Thursday his naps were SUPER short. I tried (per Jo's suggestion) letting him cry to see if he'd go back to sleep. I let him cry 30 minutes the first time and 15 the second. He didn't go back to sleep. Thursday I had been trying to shift him toward the 9am and 1pm nap schedule so his first nap was from 8:50-9:10, and his second was from 12:35-1:00pm. Friday I put him down a little earlier for his first nap, and this seemed to be the right move as he slept for 40 minutes (8:00-8:40). I had planned to put him down around 12pm for his second nap, but he fell asleep on the way home from the library (around 11am). I had a feeling it was going to be really hard to keep him up from 11:30am-7:00pm. Sure enough around 2pm he got super duper cranky, and so I put him down for a 3rd nap. I guess this was a mistake as he woke up at 4:14am this morning. Ugh. I stayed up until 9:15 last night because I was watching a movie with Paul (while grading papers on my laptop). Ian went down at 7:15 last night, but he got up once before 8pm so he slept less than 9 hours, and I got less than 7 hours of sleep. This means Mommy is starting her Saturday with a headache. 

I find his short naps to be so perplexing. When Nadia was taking 3-4 naps her naps were 45 minutes long. Ironically, I thought that was short! I'd be thrilled if Ian took two 45 minute naps! When she was on a two nap schedule (and she also switched at age 9 months), her two naps totaled 2-3 hours as they have since she's been on a one nap schedule. I have no idea why Ian's total about 1 hour (or less sometimes!). Letting him cry doesn't seem to help so I am not inclined to try that again. It's amazing to me that on Thursday between the hours of 5:35am and 7:05pm he was awake for all but 45 minutes. Nadia could never go that long on that little sleep. As a two year old (and 9 month olds are supposed to need more sleep than toddlers), she sleeps 12-15 hours a day with 14 being the norm. Regina, you said you don't let the twins sleep in the car. Do you just make sure you're not in the car at a time they might fall asleep? Otherwise I have no idea how to prevent it. I can't even see Ian as he's facing backward in the seat behind me. The only reason I knew he fell asleep was Nadia told me. We had a really nice time at the library yesterday morning. It's frustrating to think we might not be able to do things like that for fear Ian will fall asleep and take his second nap too early, but I guess that become my new plan of action.

This morning he was up from 4:15-5:40, and then I was able to get him back down. He slept for 35 minutes, and then Paul got him at 6:15 and actually he got him to sleep in his arms until 7:15. I didn't consider this to be a nap. Due to our yard sale shopping, I didn't put him down until 10:40am. He napped for 30 minutes and then 2 hours later took another 30 minute nap. He was awake from 1:40-7:15pm. Hopefully he will sleep until at least 5:30 tomorrow morning. Mommy is TIRED!

On Thursday we also stopped at a yard sale on our way to the park. I bought a double jogging stroller for $5! It's rather faded (not too much is red any more), but it provided us with a much smoother ride to the park yesterday afternoonin the blistering heat. I also bought some clothes, toys, a bicycle delmet for Nadia ($1), and a booster seat ($3). There were more yard sales yesterday, and today there were literally more than 150 yard sales within 2 miles of our house. Yesterday on the way to the library I stopped at one and bought a shelving unit with bins for $5. I think it's going to work out much better than getting a second toy box. Nadia has been playing with toys that I put in the bin that had been buried at the bottom of the toy box. Next year I want to tackle the annual yard sale on my own. That had been my plan, but Paul wanted us to do it as a foursome. I still was able to get some games, clothes, and shoes for the kids today, but I'm sure I could have gotten a lot more if I had gone earlier in the morning by myself. Literally thousands of people attend this community yard sale each year! Parking was very hard to come by. We had to park really far away. Some of the clothes I purchased still had tags on them. I think the toy the kids are enjoying the most that I bought was a big bag of 100 Mega Blocks for $1.