The Big Snooze

Gavin has never been a fan of naps, and ever since Graham was born, he's given them up completely. I've learned that that this is fine. Both of my kids go to bed early, so I get my break around 6-6:30 at night. At least I know I can count on that. Gavin was doing mostly okay on this schedule until we hit that bump in the road over the last few months. During this time, he started falling asleep in the car in the middle of the day every now and then. At first we were like, WOW!, because we hadn't seen him sleep in the car or anywhere else during daylight hours. But then it began to happen more and more. He wouldn't transfer into the house, of course, but I learned to just leave him in his car seat with all the car doors open and the door to the garage open so that I could hear him. Luckily it hasn't been hot outside. (Is this considered illegal?) Anyway, he'd get a good half hour of rest from it, and it seemed to help him a lot. 

Flash forward to yesterday. The boys were having a great morning and did great at the Kids Club while I was in a class. My plan was to get groceries afterward, but all of a sudden I decided that shopping at the Scottsdale Quarter and Kierland and then going to the Shake Shack sounded like a lot more fun. Gavin picked out some new clothes for Graham and himself at the Gap Kids, and we moseyed on over to get ourselves some burgers and milkshakes.

It was noon on Friday, so it was crowded, and my crew was a MESS. Luckily, a nice lady busing the tables offered to bring us our food when it was ready. Then, we had a series of loud, high-pitched shrieks and cries because a certain somebody was having a power struggle with our shared milkshake and wouldn't eat his hot dog. Graham threw out a few cries for good measure, too. It was embarrassing and awful. I furiously ate my cheeseburger in a most impolite way and threw everyone together on the stroller and high-tailed it out of there with the leftover hot dog tucked inside my bag. We made it back to the car all the way across the street, and about 15 minutes into our drive, Gavin fell asleep. It wasn't until then that I realized, Ohhhhh, he was tired, and that's why he was being so irrational and awful. 

I should have known things would go south quickly when this was the face he gave me for the photo that was intended to show how much fun we were having on our afternoon out and about.

As usual, I left him in the car when we got home and went out to get him when I heard him cry. I quickly grabbed him and settled him into a chair in the family room and ran back to Graham who was in his high chair. Lately, Graham has been fond of standing in the high chair, risking a disastrous fall to the floor on his head, so I can't leave him unattended. After I got him squared away, I realized I hadn't heard much out of Gavin, and I went back to find this.

I honestly think he's fallen asleep on the couch one other time when he was sick with a high fever, and that is it. He hasn't slept in his bunk bed ever for a nap. That's how rare it is. So, of course I was worried that something was wrong with him because I can't go more than a couple of days without worrying that something is seriously wrong. I basically live-streamed the nap to Dylan while he was in-flight. Luckily, he has wifi on his plane so he didn't have to miss out on this momentous event.

Look, he changed positions!!

In this time, I put Graham down for an hour of playing in his crib plus an hour of napping. (He's not big on daytime sleep, either.) Then, it was quiet in this house, and it was the weirdest thing EVER. I put the sheets back on the bed, did some dishes and made a dinner plan. Then, since I had been to the Gap and I knew they were featuring an epic sale, I decided to check out what they had to offer online. After purchasing the entire family a new summer wardrobe, I settled in with my Kindle and a cup of tea for another 20 minutes before Gavin awoke. He slept for over two hours...and he woke up happy!

A little while later, Graham joined us, too. We made our way to the front patio to watch for Dylan's truck coming home from a trip. We ate dinner together, and everyone had plenty of energy and smiles to spare, so we stayed up extra late and had more fun together at home than I can honestly ever remember having.

He was so happy with this book, and then he worked furiously at the little red kitchen for a long time!

I guess Gavin's pants are too loose?

Work socks and exercise clothes!

As long as my kids are pleasant, I love having them around at night. It's just that they're usually both such train wrecks by 5pm, and I usher them to bed early because that's what you do with tired kids. So, I could get used to this whole nap thing. I have no idea what brought it on, and I doubt it will happen again. That's okay, though, because it could get really expensive with all the time it frees up for me to do online shopping...