Until now.

I’ve known that his nap time was coming to an end for awhile now. In fact, sometimes his naps would throw off his bedtime. You see, he sleeps twelve (plus) hours at night. According to Elizabeth Pantley, our preferred sleep book guide writer, that’s the amount of sleep he needs all day at age four. (See page five of the linked .pdf booklet.) It makes sense then that any napping would throw off bedtime. I like bedtime. But I also like naptime.

Parenting dilemma.

I have always used naptime as a catch all for what needs to be done but can’t always be done with two boys running around, driving tractors over my toes and asking to play Candy Land eighty-six times. I throw in a load of laundry, wash the morning dishes, take a shower and apparently use a lot of water in a two hour time span. I return phone calls because that’s an impossibility with the volume output of these two. I finish up any freelance articles that need finishing, do some editing and write a blog post or four. It’s what I’ve done and when I’ve done it for four years.

And now that’s changing.

I’m trying to figure it all out. I’m trying not to get frustrated. For awhile, FireDad and I thought we could get away with letting BigBrother “rest” in his room as some parents have blogged about regarding the transition out of naps. And, yes, he’ll stay in his room. He really will. He’s great about that. But did you catch the mention of volume in the previous paragraph? Even when he thinks he’s being quiet and just humming along to a song or reading aloud, he’s not quiet. (I wonder where he gets that? Hmm.) As his room shares a wall with LittleBrother’s (who still needs a nap), the quiet resting plan isn’t working for us.

I’ve started lining up activities for BigBrother. One day I placed my laptop at the dining room table so that I could still work while he sat next to me working on the workbooks I’ve been buying/collecting for him. He’s getting better with a pencil, something he struggles with regarding his fine motor skills which stem from his texture issues (not wanting to touch anything). Another day I sat on the floor, texting one of my bosses while we did a big puzzle. And another one. And another one. Today’s plan is to sit next to him in our playroom-slash-office and let him play games on the new computer (of which I need some software suggestions, please) while I finish up some important work. Of course, that was the plan yesterday. Do you know what he did yesterday?

That kid napped.

He hadn’t napped since his birthday. In mid-November. Minus vehicle rides that fell in mid-afternoon, the kid hadn’t taken a nap in almost two months. As I was setting up the computer for him yesterday, I noticed he was whining and rubbing his eyes. When I suggested that he go to the bathroom and get in bed, he didn’t even argue. I was so shocked for a bit that I forgot to get caught up on things. When I peeked in his door and found him asleep instead of reading his way through his bookshelf, I quietly shut the door, did a quiet, little jig in the hallway and raced around the house cleaning and smiling.

I have the computer games lined up for today. Tomorrow we’ll do more workbooks. And by Thursday I’ll be praying for Spring so I can work outside while he runs off the energy that he has apparently been bottling up since the cold weather rolled into the area. I also acknowledge that’s part of the problem. As much as I love winter, we need to get outside and run off some energy. Myself included.

I’m pretty sure that yesterday’s nap was a fluke, brought on by the exhaustion of spending the weekend with my parents. I’m willing to bet that this really is the End of an Era. As much as I’d love for him to keep napping forever, rumor has it that I’ll be annoyed when he’s a teenager and I’ve told him to mow the lawn and instead find him sleeping. If they’re anything like their father, they’ll be able to fall asleep in the middle of the living room floor after supper despite the noise and commotion of two children with too much energy crawling all over him. Maybe BigBrother will nap on occasion, like yesterday, but maybe not. I’m learning to be okay with that.

And, so, we are making yet another transition in this house. I’m relearning my time management right now, taking advantage of little moments here and there to get things done. I’m realizing how lucky I’ve had it for four years. I’m also enjoying the little moments we’re having together. I wish my attention didn’t have to be so split sometimes between work and home but the truth is that I have deadlines. They slow in the summer so there’s hope for that time as well. Right now, it’s working for him. When my mom called and asked to talk to him the other day during one of our afternoons at the dining room table, he told her that he was “working with mommy.”

I’ll take that.

FireDad brought home a cold last week. He just had a sore throat. And the sniffles. We didn’t think much of it. Until BigBrother caught it. He’s not often sick. But man, when the kid gets sick, he goes all out. He had a temperature of 103.7 (yes, I took him to the doctor for that one) and wouldn’t get off the couch at all on Day One. Oh, and by the way? The doctor? FireDad was working that day. So I had to take both boys to the doctor’s office. By myself. And BigBrother? Fell asleep on the way there. So I had to put LittleBrother in the Mei Tai and carry all thirty-two pounds of BigBrother upstairs to the fourth floor office. Good grief. (And yes, that picture is from the doctor’s office. My camera? I don’t leave home without it.)

Day Two was somewhat tolerable. Until my throat began to hurt in the evening.

By Day Three, I was down for the count. But as I wrote, Mommies don’t get to be down for the count. So, with a tissue stuffed up my nose, I tried to wrangle two kids. Did I mention that by Day Three, BigBrother had his energy back and was zooming around the house, leaving a trail of snot while I just wanted to collapse on the couch where he had previously spent two days? Oh, yeah. Perfect timing!

Thankfully, and knockonwood, LittleBrother didn’t catch our grossness. In fact, LittleBrother slept through the night almost all of last week. Do you know who didn’t sleep through the night through this mess? Yeah. Poor BigBrother. He coughed himself awake six times one night. Six times. I haven’t been up with LittleBrother six times at all. But six times it was. During a three day period (that’s seventy two hours, folks), I had nine hours of sleep. Interrupted sleep, mind you.

I’m happy to report we’re on the mend. FireDad is all but healthy. I’ve still got a tickle in my throat. BigBrother’s nose is still kind of snotty. But, oh, glory be, he slept through the night last night. As did LittleBrother. So I got eight full hours of uninterrupted sleep. (Well, it was briefly interrupted by FireDad’s alarm clock, but you get my point.) And it couldn’t have come at a better time. I hit the proverbial brick wall last night. If I wouldn’t have caught some quality Z’s, today (alone with the kids) would have been rather… impossible.

And so, while they both weren’t sick, I’ve learned a new lesson in parenting two. When illness ravages your household, make some coffee and prepare for some sleepless nights. Invest in tissues. Purchase the entire cold medicine section at the drugstore. And take advantage of snuggles. Because those are kind of nice.

Even if you do end up wearing snot on your shoulder.