Travelingjenny

Grace has been waking up pretty consistently around 5:30am for the past two weeks. This is NOT a good thing for any of us. The odd thing is that she doesn’t seem tired as she goes through the day, but she has also been consistently taking an approximately one-hour nap. This morning, after being awakened by Grace at 5:15, and then by Tess at 5:30 (although Tess went back to sleep for two hours), I decided that this early morning nonsense simply MUST stop – so that I have may have any chance at all of clinging to my sanity. I came to the conclusion that the early morning wake-up call is taking a harder toll on my ability to cope with the day than a napless afternoon would. And so the ‘no nap’ experiment was born. It is only logical that if she does not take an afternoon nap, Gracie will require more sleep at night – right? I’ll keep you posted.

Of course, I still need some kind of afternoon break to regain my composure and regroup for the hours before Adam comes home. So, I told Grace that she had to have quiet time – she had to stay in her room for 30 minutes – and she had to be quiet. If she could do this, she would be permitted to watch one of her taped shows at the conclusion of the 30-minute period. Much to my surprise, she stayed in her room – quietly – for the entire time. When I went upstairs to release her, Grace was wearing polka-dot tights – and nothing else. And her dress-up clothes were strewn about her room. I asked what she had been up to, and she replied: “I decorated my room for Valentine’s Day.” Oh, of course. And then she explained: “I waved my magic wand and my clothes flew were I wanted them to go.” Ah yes, it was a ‘no nap’ miracle.