One long nap.

A little over a month ago, I wrote about our struggle with getting Linna down to one long nap, instead of two naps a day. Well, we've successfully made that transition (knock on wood). At 17-months-old, Linna is napping 2-3 hours each afternoon, instead of two 1.5 hr. naps a day. As many moms told me, it's easier to plan our day around one long nap, instead of two naps. Now, we have our mornings and late afternoons free, and we don't have to race home by 10:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. to get Linna down for a nap. I can tell Linna is still getting tired as we inch toward 11 a.m., but she doesn't have big melt-downs or anything. It just got to the point where Linna was playing in her crib for a half-hour when I laid her down for her 10:30 a.m. nap. Plus, she wasn't going to bed until 8:30 p.m. or so.

Now, Linna goes to bed at 7/7:30 p.m., wakes up at 7:45 a.m. (on the dot - almost every day), naps at around 12:30 p.m. until around 3 p.m. Oh, and as you'll see from the photo, her crib is quickly turning into a haven for all of Linna's stuffed-animals. Currently, she is sharing her bed with her pals Barney, Cookie Monster, a stuffed dog she calls "RoRo", Elmo, Mr. Bear (a bear pillow), Lots a Legs (caterpillar), Owl, and of course "Snuggles" (or "Shnuh" - her blanket). We do let Linna have a pacifier (AKA her "Wa") during naps and bedtime, and she still sleeps with the O'Neill Brothers Lullaby CD and a fan in the background. Linna doesn't cry when she wakes up, but instead just sits quietly and plays with her stuffed animals. I don't know how we got her to do this, but it's nice not having a kid who wakes up crying. We've actually learned that Linna is NOT done with her nap if she wakes up crying. We rock her back to sleep if she wakes up crying, so she gets the sleep she needs. Otherwise, she is SO crabby for the rest of the day.

One of the biggest things I've learned from this napping transition, is that kids can be very inconsistent. The moment you think you have something figured out, they change. There are days where Linna decides that a half-hour nap is enough (these days aren't often, but they happen), or she'll catch a cold, and then has trouble sleeping. Every kid is different. Now that we have this one-nap-a-day thing "down", I'm seriously dreading the day Linna decides she's completely done with her naps, AND starts crawling out of her crib. When did this happen for you???