The Evolution of Naptime

I am fortunate in that both of my kids were/are good nappers. For as long as I can remember I could rely on Jenna's morning nap which was exactly 2 hours after she woke up. This lasted until she started daycare at 18 months and they moved her to one nap per day.  Alex is similar in that he consistently gives me a good morning nap and a pretty decent afternoon one as well.

I was probably ordering from amazon

With Jenna, nap time was 'take care of business' time.  I did the dishes, cooked, ate my own meals, made phone calls, placed my amazon orders...the list goes on and on.  This was my time to take care of all the things that needed to be taken care of.

With Alex, nap time is time for me to read, catch up on DVR, watch the news, blog...things that I want to do.  

 The other morning he gave me a two hour morning nap, from 8:30-10:30. And I did nothing, well not nothing but nothing that needed to be done. I watched  the Today show while sipping my coffee and playing Candy Crush and when I ran out of lives, read Anna Karenina on my Ipad. 

Probably on the phone

With Alex, I have become quite efficient in taking care of business. The business still gets done - I still do the dishes, cook meals, eat, make phone calls, and place numerous Amazon orders.  But I don't do any of that while he's napping.  I eat with him and put the dishes in the dishwasher while he finishes up. I cook while he either plays around me in the kitchen or plays in the living room.  Phone calls are made while he's playing quietly, same with online ordering.  

Here's the key...Alex is able to play independently. Meaning without me being on top of him.  He is able to keep himself busy if I have something to take care of.  This isn't to say I leave him playing alone for hours, but for a few minutes here and there it works. I feel like it's helped me keep my sanity and helped him become a pretty damn independent 16 month old.  Jenna still doesn't like being alone and typically says things like "I don't want to be all by myself!" Ahhh...the differences between two children...

Not sure if this is a nature vs. nurture thing or not, but, selfishly, these naps are real nice.