Transitioning to one nap a day, and daycare fail
Two parter today with nothing much other than insight into what a nearly 14 month old is doing…
…sleep that don’t come easy
Maggie’s nearing 14 months, which among other things means she’s been transitioning from a nap at 10 and 3ish to one nap a day sometime a couple of hours after she wakes up the first time. Evidently this is normal.
What this has meant is that were you attempting to get any rest on her schedule, you have to do it immediately. Naps tend to range from 20 minutes to two hours and there are no second chances – usually. We got her to take two naps last week so we could hit a free music event that played the type of music she loves but even that only extended our operating time by an hour.
Unfortunately the lack of a second nap tends to leave baby getting tired earlier and earlier and starting to have meltdowns an hour or two before bedtime.
What I have noticed though is that if given the opportunity, she’ll sit in her crib at what used to be the second naptime and just play quietly with a doll for a while. At first I thought that was akin to leaving her alone when she wanted to be up and playing, but I’m beginning to think it’s more downtime and reflection time rather than leaving her to stew for a minute.
She’ll usually pipe up at about 20-30 minutes that she wants out with some random slightly loud babble (not crying,) and I go grab her out of the crib.
….as we walk, or don’t along the sea
We had a meeting with a daycare the other day. They had an immediate opening and we made plans to go and see them the next morning.
I’ve been a bit inclined to get Maggie into something structured lately as she loves kids, loves outdoors, love activities, and she’s not getting enough of at least the first with us. She’s also been at home every day for the past month or so due to job changes.
Having been a homeschooler I’ve got a pretty strong opinion on this, and seeing her face light up when other kids are around I’ve wanted at least some sort of structured kiddo time for her.
So off we went and finding a really cool place learned that if she couldn’t walk she couldn’t be in the class. She still won’t walk. She can walk, but refuses to without a finger or two to hold on to. So she’s not able to go to that class.
That tossed that out of contention. It was pretty sad as it was close, reasonably priced, I liked the place, etc. It’s also the first time I’ve ever felt such mixed disappointment that my baby could not do something and also disappointment that I was feeling disappointed, and disappointment that Maggie was not going to get to play with those kids.
Finally had to break it down and reaffirm that my disappointment was that she did not have an opportunity to play with those kids, nor an opportunity to go to that place, but my feelings weren’t because she’s a little slow on walking, they’re because she’s got an opportunity to not be bored by boring old dad all day every day.
I’ve got to say on a different note, daycare in Nashville is an amazing racket. I don’t think it’s designed to be that way, but in execution it is. To leave a daycare and keep a job seems to mean you’ve got to plan months in advance to get your child into another one. That’s kinda absurd and seems like it would promote mediocrity.
There’s a bunker of a daycare being built near where I work, we’re going to tour it sometime relatively soon. The place is imposing, I think it’s what people want in a daycare these days – security doors, walls that would stop a speeding semi, etc. It’s what I assume people look for these days, but something I’ve already passed over one daycare for being. Well, that and some other stuff involving them being meanies.
