No nap

No, he is not ready to give up his nap. Oh, no. Not ready. Oh, no, no, no. Not if today's terrible behavior was any indication!

For many months Isaac has taken an afternoon nap starting at about 2:00; we wake him up after about an hour and a half. In the last 30 days he has missed this nap nine times, much more than usual. For the last two weeks, he has even been following a pattern: two afternoons he'll nap, the next afternoon he won't. Actually, the "two on, one off" pattern began nearly four weeks ago, but those first few missing naps were skipped on purpose by me! See, first there was an Easter party, then I took him along as I shopped for shoes, then my cousin got married ... I had no idea I was sowing the seeds of destruction.

It's usually not a big deal when he won't nap. Even when he is clearly tired and in need of a nap, he seems to rally, and all afternoon he continues to be a pleasant, happy child. Although he might get a little wild by bedtime, the payoff is that he falls asleep early and easily that night. It's really not a problem.

But what if he misses two naps in a row?

Our Trixie Tracker shows that this has only ever happened twice. The first time was in January of this year, and the historical record is silent on the result. The second time was today, and I can tell you that it was a total disaster. Isaac became an entirely different person, and since he's usually perfect, it wasn't an improvement! He was simultaneously exhausted, hyperactive, destructive, anxious, defiant, and frightened. He couldn't control himself at all, and he didn't understand why.

I think I handled it all pretty well, but at 5:00 p.m. I finally gave up, put him in his car seat, and resorted to driving around aimlessly. I figured that even if he didn't sleep, at least he would be safely restrained where he couldn't, for instance, try to hit the dog with a belt or knock objects into the toilet. And I could listen to my audiobook instead of his random sobs and shrieks.

He did fall asleep, though, so I let him nap for 30 minutes, and he was a little happier when he woke up.

- - - - -

On the plus side, he wore underpants for over six hours today with no accidents. He even used the public restroom at the park!