A tyrade about naps

Why is it that I can't get this child to take a nap? Is it a "mommy thing?" Why do other babies nap? We saw Aisling today for about 5 minutes - and then she had to go home for her nap.

Isabel gets him to nap every day now. My mother can get him to nap. Even Mark can get him to fall asleep on the couch with him on those "daddy days" when the two are hanging out doing the guy thing.

Today we went out for most of the morning, and granted he's not running wild, but he certainly gets sleepy by two o'clock. This is routine. I pretty much follow Isabel's lead on this, because it works for her, and routine is good, right?

So we gave him a nice big bottle of milk and let him lie with us, and we both pretty nearly fell asleep. Not Fin. He's going, "WHY ARE YOU GUYS PRETENDING TO SLEEP! COME ON GET UP!"

Is it the sugar in the milk?

So I put him in his crib. Let him cry it out, everyone says. Well he doesn't exactly cry it out. He plays it out. And sings. And throws things. And kicks the wall. And gets his calves stuck between the bars of the crib. And sings. And squeals. And cries when he's bored... and then does it all again. And again. And again.

For two hours.

So, while Mark napped like a corpse and I drifted in between half dreaming and half being annoyed at the barrage of sound coming from the baby's room, including some super-loud music toy he usually ignores, Fin was wide awake. And in my exhausted half-dozed brain, which felt heavier than a rock so that I could not even get up if I had wanted or needed to, the pangs of guilt swam around. He's feeling abandoned. He wonders where his mommy is. He thinks he's being punished for something. He wants to play with the other toys that he can see from his crib. And so on.

I kept thinking - any moment now, he'll fall asleep. Which he did. At four. Now it's nearly six, he's still sleeping, and our entire day is ruined - both because he'll now be up all night and because Dad and I are feeling groggy and sleepweird from having a lousy nap ourselves. I guess we needed it a lot more than he did!

*sigh*