transition or just a patience test for mommy?

april 22nd, 2011: my little monkey boy turned 14 months.  it was not our finest day.  an hour and fifteen minute intro to naptime ended in him asleep (finally), but not before i procured some lovely new bruises and broken skin on my arms/shoulders (he's a bit of a biter), i shed a fair amount of tears and then wrote a sad-face blog about it.  many of my lovely friends weighed in with ideas, input and empathy.  thank you all.

april 23rd, 2011: we implemented a new nap plan.  it started with breakfast at 7:30 or at the latest 7:45 instead of 8:00, leaving enough time to finish eating, do the dishes, clean the kitchen, change a diaper and wind down to fall asleep by the 9:00am first nap.  this led to a beautifully happy baby waking around 10:30 and a cheerful mama.  we would then play until 12:30 or 1:00 before eating lunch and again, dishes, kitchen, diaper, wind down, yadda, yadda and asleep by 2:00.  baby up by 3:30pm and sleepy again, ready for bed after dinner and a bath by 6:45pm.  this worked incredibly well for a whopping week and a half.  i was so proud of myself for figuring it out.  not a bite in a week and a half (with the help of henry the hippo as a distraction)...then it all went to crap.

may 4th, 2011: timely wake-up followed by a lovely hour and fifteen minute nap that began with little fuss.  music class at 10:30am and a painting play date with some of my favorite mamas right after.  lunch with the ladies and babies and home in time for a nap at 2:30 (a little late, but not bad and he went down without so much as a peep).  at 4:00, i woke him up (i learned many months earlier that if he sleeps past 4:00, forget about night-night time at any reasonable hour).  anyway, woke him up at 4:00, dinner, bath, etc...sleepy baby by 6:30pm. 

i figured it was a little early considering his relatively late afternoon nap, but it was a big day, so i went with it.  6:45pm: eyes nearly shut.  then...something unknown to me happened.  eyes open.  baby up.  time passes...7:20pm: eyes shut for two full minutes!  i should mention, once nolan's eyes close, that's usually it.  ten minutes from that point it is usually a done deal.  7:22pm: eyes pop open again.  baby awake.  didn't want to read.  didn't want to rock.  didn't want to walk.  didn't want to nurse.  i tried the ergo...tears, tears, tears (our neighbors may now hate us...).  i gave up on the ergo and at 8:00pm, i threw in the towel. 

i decided to get myself ready for bed.  unfortunately, anthony was at work, so i put nolan in his crib while i was getting ready.  five minutes...i took five minutes to get ready after trying to help him for an hour and a half.  the poor kid lost it.  he screamed the whole five minutes.  now the neighbors on our other side probably hate us too.  we went back into the bedroom.  i put away all the books and any other distractions.  i closed the door so he couldn't escape and i laid down on the bed and waited it out.  after another hour and fifteen minutes, a lot of flailing and a little bit of head banging on the wall (honestly, what is with that?) he crawled up on the bed.  he flopped around for another fifteen minutes before FINALLY giving in.  good heavens.  i kept my cool, but below the surface, i nearly lost it.  it seriously sounded like it was using the ol' cry-it-out method...without using the ol' cry-it-out method! 

this was how he finally surrendered...right after this picture, i place a number of pillows in that top left corner, just in case he rolled...he didn't.  :)

i was so worn out, i went to bed too...defeated, but trying to find the positive in the fact that he crawled up on the bed by himself and (eventually) put himself to sleep.

may 5th, 2011: i told myself when i woke up this morning that i would give it one more day of the same old schedule to see if it was just a rough day before figuring out the next plan.  he was crazy sleepy this morning after his three hour late bedtime, but he still managed to fight like a champ.  we started the process at 8:15 since he seemed SO sleepy.  by 9:30am i was irritated (which irritated me further...hehe).  i got us bundled up (oddly chilly day after so much warmth the past few days) and decided to go the park and tire him out and shoot for a one nap day, just to see.  we walked outside, realized it was even cooler than i realized, came back in to get an additional layer when nolan started rubbing his eyes and yawning...soooooo...we un-bundled (pretty sure that's not a word, but whatever) and tried again.  failure.  so, again...i put away all the toys, books, distractions, closed the bedroom door and crawled into bed to wait it out.  at 10:30am he crawled up onto the bed, cuddled me, nursed and fell asleep.  we woke up at 12:00.  we had one nap all day. 

by 6:15 we were fed, bathed and ready for bed.  we went into the bedroom, sat in the rocker, read a few books, he started to nurse and he was out before i finished the third verse of "skinnamarink" (the first song in our lullaby series :p)!  amazing.  amazing.  a fluke?  who knows.  right after his first birthday he made a brief transition to one nap, but then he worked his way back to two...so, is he really wanting one?  i guess we'll see how tomorrow goes.