Why U No Sleep??

I think that if I ever had to go it alone on my own as a SAHM without my helper, none of my kids would nap.

We are at that phase (at least, I hope it is a phase!) where Noey would choose not to nap if it was up to him, and Naomi just doesn't want to be put down. She would snap awake as soon as she touches the rocker/bed/swing. It's terribly annoying.

I had one of those days last week when Noey didn't nap at all. I wouldn't be as grieved about it if I could claim back the 1.5 hours I spent in the room trying to put him to sleep. That and the stress I went through of hearing Naomi scream her head off outside the whole time.

It has always been difficult to get Noey to sleep and to get him to stay asleep thereafter. He still needs me to lie down next to him while he strokes my elbow, my leg, clambers all over me, and generally squishes himself against me as much as possible. It drives me absolutely insane. Especially when it carries on for more than an hour. I know I should have "trained" him out of it. Believe me, we tried. But between his persistence and my desperation for him to just sleep already, we haven't made much progress. We've carried on with what works and at least that gets him to nap for 1.5 to 2 hours a day everyday, and to sleep at a decent time at night.

Until now.

Noey's saving grace has always been his schedule. At least I could count on him going to sleep at certain times. Could, being operative these days. The problem now is that his school hours have screwed up his schedule somewhat. I've been very happy with his transition to school thus far, except for this nap problem. School knocks off at 2.30pm, and at this point, he is tired. Unfortunately, the car ride is too short for him to fall asleep. And once he gets home, he's re-energized and I have to drag him to sleep, kicking and screaming.

Naomi also complicates matters by not having a fixed afternoon nap or feed schedule, and generally not being too good a napper altogether. (Her night-time sleep is awesome though, so I really shouldn't complain.) It's just that the need to squeeze in her feeds and put her to sleep is very difficult when I also have to be the one to put Noey to sleep.

So far, I've tried:

1) Putting him to sleep immediately once we get home. I get him to wash his face and hands, change his clothes and it's off to bed. Problem: There is a lot of protesting and he takes ages to fall asleep. Also because he takes a while to fall asleep anyway, it is too late to give him a snack when he wakes up as it is too close to dinner time.

2) Letting him have a snack before packing him off to sleep. Problem: He's not the fastest eater, and sometimes, he's so happy playing with his toys in the meantime, it's still some work dragging him off to sleep. And if I miss the magic window and try to put him to sleep too late, he doesn't sleep at all.

3) Taking a long drive in the hope that he'll fall asleep before we get home. Problem: He refuses to take that last pee in school so I have to bring him home or somewhere else to pee first. It also still has to be a pretty long drive!

4) Bringing him out somewhere for tea and run some errands before heading back, and thereby letting him fall asleep in the car. This is what I've taken to doing most recently, and it is proving to be the most effective, fun and productive for everyone. The one thing I do feel guilty about is having to leave Naomi at home with someone for the period we're out. Bringing her too is more than a bit tricky, especially if they both fall asleep.

In all cases, I need someone else to hold Naomi for a while. I've tried putting them both to sleep at the same time, something I've only been successful at maybe 2-3 times this entire month. Noey gets too excited when Naomi is around and would keep trying to paw her, talk to her, squeeze himself next to her such that neither would get to sleep. Or Naomi would simply not be interested in sleeping and start making so much noise to be carried that Noey wouldn't sleep either.

Argh.

Them taking turns to nap results in me having no time to do anything, including take a nap myself, so I've been crashing out pretty early every night. Thank God my helper is back and order has been restored in the house! Noey's schedule and Naomi's too are now a work in progress. Two kids is certainly at least twice the work. Luckily for them (and for me) it's also double the cuteness.

Now, let's just shut those big eyes, shall we?

Do we really have to sleep?