Nap Transitions

Something I have learned as a parent is that there are millions of millions of different ways to do things. There are few things (if any) when it comes to parenting that fall into the "one and only correct way" of doing something category. Luvs vs. Huggies. Bottles vs. Breasts. BLW vs. Baby Food. Co-sleeping vs. Crib sleeping. When is the right age to flip the car seat forward facing? When is the right age to give the baby eggs/peanut butter/honey? Etc. Etc. Etc. The list is never-ending. 

The list can be stressful for me. I have strong opinions for few things and am a very easily persuadable person when it comes to just about anything. (Can you even imagine how hard it was for me to choose a candidate to vote for President? I always seem to agree with the platforms of both parties. How is that even possible? I'm a sucker when it comes to people making something sound appealing. Just one of my many life-long struggles is all. No biggy).

However, through all my persuasion happy going alongs, there is one thing that I (we) stick to our guns on and that is a sleep schedule. Some people are better with flexible sleep schedules for their babies. Not I. I like me a good strict sleep schedule with little variation.

With that said, you can imagine how hard it has been for me the past two and a half months having an emerging toddler who really needs one and a half naps to be happy. Two is too many and turns into play time with the crib railing banging into the wall over and over and over again. One is too few and turns into a cranky red-eyed mess by four o'clock. We've tried so many different things over the past two months to try and get back to that predictable sleep schedule that we both love so dearly, all to no avail.

I wish there was a happy ending to this post to announce that we've finally had a break through and figured out the perfect formula for nap time success. That would all be a lie. While today is turning out to be a long middle of the day one nap day, yesterday was an early morning nap and a later afternoon two nap day and Sunday was a short morning nap in daddy's arms at church and a great afternoon nap one-and-a-half nap sort of day.

The bottom line is, as much as we like our sleep stability, we're learning that one of the big lessons of parenting is to roll with the punches. Hopefully we'll roll right into a good solid one a day nap sooner rather than later...but until that time, we'll keep rolling. We'll keep taking it a day at a time. We'll just plan a trip to Utah where sleep will be thrown out the window and then start fresh in a month. Sounds like a plan.

What do these pictures have to do with this post? Absolutely nothing besides the fact that it seems a sin to post so many words without any cuteness pictures to follow it. (Although I'm sure we were at the fountain one morning entertaining the kiddo in order to keep him busy and put him down for a later nap. Nap strategy is written all over these pictures which means that they have absolutely everything to do with this post--how's that for a connection?).