Although swim lessons have been over for two weeks (reminder to enroll her in the next session), Fridays haven't slowed down too much. Last Friday was the day before Halloween, and I kept trying to get Charity to sleep. I had her in bed for an hour before I realized that she hadn't even closed an eye. I hate when that happens because not only do I have a tired toddler to deal with, but I also feel like I've confined her in her crib so I can do something that I need to do--generally grading..
Anyway, so this Friday I am going to the First Friday Wordsmith's at Purdue Cal at 1:30, where my friend Liz will watch Charity while I'm in the hour-long meeting. At three, I managed to get a last minute meeting about teaching a course in another department. Because our day has suddenly gone from 0-busy, I tried once again to get her to take a nap at the first sign of tiredness. I thought she fell asleep right away, and as soon as I was about to jump in the shower (half an hour after first lay-down) I hear excited speaking from her room. My intuition tells me she has a dirty diaper, and Charity does not sleep when her diaper is dirty. So I check it--yep, dirty. No doubt. After a diaper changing wrestling match, I take her back to bed. After thinking she's asleep once again, it's the shower for me! But when I get out, I hear talking. So this time, I figure I might as well just get her up, but when I walk in she's staring off into space, about to go to sleep. NOW I've disturbed her.
So where are we now? Well, the last peep I heard was about five minutes ago. If she's not asleep in 10 minutes, I'll get her up. I figure that's safe, but I still feel bad that naptime is an epic struggle. I suppose this comes from the lack of routine. According to all the literature, kids need routines, but according to reality, this kid can't get a routine because her parents have no routine. The only option would be to get her a full-time nanny or put her in daycare extensively, which I think would be worse than a routine. For me, a routine would drive me crazy--I think it would have when I was a kid also. Although I occasionally feel bad about the fact that she has so little routine--and it's not that she has none: she eats three meals a day, sleeps at about the same time at night, goes to reading groups on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and is in the church nursery every Sunday--I wouldn't want to teach her to be one of those kids who can't do anything because it's nap or snack time. I certainly don't have a routine now. If I did, I wouldn't be able to be as flexible as I need to be to be a good teacher or student or parent.
It's 10:52 and Charity is just pulled Treasure Island, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, and a collection of sonnets by Elizabeth Barret Browning off of the bookshelf. Instead of reading them, she's contenting herself with trying to get them back on the shelf in the exact same position that they were before she took them off. She's doing a remarkable job. Now, she's pausing for a moment to read The Very Quiet Cricket, a gem concealed among all of these boring grown up books. Oh, and when I went in to get her after 10 minutes she was sitting up in her crib reading The Snowman. Oh well, I would probably rather read than sleep too. You've got to be flexible. :)
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