The Situation

I am pulling my hair out and racking my brain. Adrienne hasn't napped in ten days. I am so worn down from the battle that I seriously just want to throw my hands up and yell, "You win! I give up!"It seems reasonable to me that a 2 year old should still nap, and since the only thing I have to go on is that her sister napped until she turned 3, I'd prefer to stick to that. This all really is funny, because I intentionally worked Jillian's school schedule around a nap time which would mean a guaranteed chunk of time for me 4 days a week where I could actually do something productive around here. Scratch that, the joke is on me. Earlier this week I decided to just change my approach with her. I told her we were just going to have a rest time, like Jillian does when she is home, where she doesn't have to sleep but needs to stay in her room reading books or playing quietly. We went through the whole usual nap time routine, but brought in extra books and I made a big deal about how grown up she was to have a rest time. She seemed to buy the idea (at least it made the transition upstairs easier), but it is not working. Despite the fact that we have removed every dangerous, fun, etc thing from her room, she still creates her own trouble. She plays in her window (standing on the window seat in between the blinds), which isn't a good plan--the blinds make me nervous, as do the large windows that we've removed cranks from for safety, but still, no guarantees there. Matt even put a baby gate up between the blinds and the window and it does not deter her. And today, she threw out one of her old tricks that I thought we were over--she started to poop her pants, stuck her hand in her pull up (that I make her wear for sleep/rest. The point is for me to have a break, right!?!?), and wiped it all over her bed. So, thus ensued a twenty minute charade of clean-up, sitting on the potty to poop some more, change sheets, start laundry, etc. Did I mention I had a lovely tomato/fresh mozzarella/basil sandwich toasting away in the pan? Yep. Burned beyond recognition. That was my last tomato, thankyouverymuch. My next attempt was to give her a quiet activity (i.e. some legos or something) and I told her just to play quietly and I'd come get her when it was time to come out. That went well for 10 minutes, and then, "Mommy I'm done! I'm done!"....over and over and over as she tries to work the already duck-taped childproof knob cover off the inside of the door. There ain't no way (sorry, bad grammar seems appropriate for this rant) I'm letting her win the battle of escaping her room, so I went up to revisit the situation and she happily says, "Oh, Good Morning, Mommy!". You can guess what happened next. Yes, that's right, she is down here watching a Bubble Guppies episode while I type, trying to formulate a new plan for tomorrow (which will probably be leaving early for school pick up in hopes of a quick car nap). In the meantime, I've just sent a message loud and clear: If you make trouble, I will let you up from your rest. Ugh. I never would have conceded with Jillian (this is where I'd like to insert my apology to my parents for giving them a hard time about being more lenient on my younger siblings. I get it now, guys), but maybe I am too old and tired now to put up a fight? Either that, or I just know that there are other battles worth fighting. The plus side to all this? Bed time is super early and without struggle. I'll take what I can get. Is it 5 o'clock yet?