Tiny Tenacity

About three weeks ago, Little Girl learned how to nap. It was a great discovery--I got a bit of a break, she woke up refreshed and smiley, and we'd all have a very pleasant afternoon and evening. But, note that I've been writing in the past tense. As of this past Saturday, she decided that she has outgrown the nap phase. Nevermind that she still falls asleep every time she eats between 11:30 and 4. Whenever her head touches her bed, she's wide awake. And when I leave her in the bed, convinced that she really is very tired and will nod off on her own if I just leave her alone, she has no problem convincing me how very wrong I am.

*sigh* I've just lost another of these sessions.

Count for this week: Little Girl--5 Mamma--0

Now, I am encouraged by the fact that she's so very determined. It's an important character trait to have and will suit her well for the rest of her life. I just wish she didn't posess such huge amounts of determination at so young an age. Can't it be a personality trait that develops over time? Or maybe it is--yikes!

Yesterday after Mario got home, I decided that I needed a break, even if she was determined to fight sleep forever. I left her in her little play area and let her express her frustrations to her heart's content. After about 20 minutes, Mario decided to take pity on her. They started out walking around the house. Then I heard the stroller rumble down the hallway. Around and around the patio they went (and our patio is a 12 x 12 foot square . . . basically, they were doing doughnuts with the stroller). Then right before the Simpsons came on at 8, Mario entered, alone, as Little Girl had fallen asleep in the stroller.

Uh-oh. I usually start to put her to bed at 8 and she's normally out by 8:30. Will she wake up again tonight? Will she spent the whole night in the stoller?

In a nutshell, Little Girl had her first camping trip last night. Like most kids' first camping experiences, it was nowhere exciting--in the stroller, parked in the laundry room. And like most other kids' first camping experiences, she decided that she had enough at 2am.

There's nowhere like the bed . . . there's nowhere like the bed . . . there's nowhere like the bed.