Stop Fighting Naptime!

Mommy spy cam

It's quiet time in my house right now.   A is sleeping in her room after a very busy weekend away.   H is hard at work in our kitchen creating "gifts" for his Mommy.   He requested supplies and asked to be left alone so he could create a surprise for me.   It was so hard not to get too close to his workspace and peek.    I did manage to sneak a picture of him hard at work and took a picture of the precious present he made for me.

While I was savoring the seeming magic of this moment, I couldn't help but recall very vividly how it wasn't always this way.   Up until last week I was engaging in sometimes long battles over naptime/quiet time.   I had tried everything I could think of to keep this routine going to no avail.   Instead of a quiet few minutes to take care of a few things for our business or the household I was constantly finding myself engaged in negotiations to stay in his room, play quietly and reminders not to wake his sister up from her nap.   By the end of naptime/quiet time, H would bound out of his room ready to play and I would be frustrated, exhausted and even irritated that my time had been interrupted.

Early last week I began pondering how I was once again going to attack what was becoming the most dreaded part of my day and had a revelation.   Naptime/quiet time was never supposed to be about me and what I needed and wanted.   It was supposed to be about providing my kids much needed rest.    H hadn't napped consistently for months and if he did sleep it was only after a carefully crafted hard to maintain orchestra of events.   When he did nap we were starting to run into difficulties with bedtime.   All the signs were there that he was ready to give up the afternoon nap yet I continued to fight it for my own selfish reasons.

And so I did it; I gave up on trying to get my son to nap.

It was the best thing I could have done.    A still goes down for her nap, and when that happens our house goes into quiet time.    H and I can play quietly together, or we can do our own separate activities.    He knows that this is Mommy's time to take care of a few things (phone calls, blogging, bills, etc.) and that sometime he has to play on his own.   I have tried to be proactive at providing him with activities  to keep him engaged and entertained and always prep him before I make myself unavailable.  And I am intentional about making sure I intersperse my tasks with moments of pouring into him through a quick conversation, joining him in his play, reading a book, etc   I also explained to him that if he had meltdowns later in the afternoon that he would be asked to go to his room for some "chill-out" time because a meltdown meant he must be feeling tired.

My precious present from my son.

It may not be a perfect plan, but it was the right plan for our family.   Since implementing it, quiet time has been just as I envisioned it; a quiet peaceful time where I can attack a few of my adult tasks around the house.   But my picture of quiet time has now evolved to include some extra special 1:1 time with my son.   And I afternoons like today, where my son's kindness pops out and he spontaneously decides to bless me with his homemade gifts that have come straight from the heart.

I can't wait to homeschool!

Cleaning Coins

Hubby and I decided that we were going to homeschool the kids.    It wasn't part of our original plans as parents but over the last year the idea of it started to make more and more sense to us.   It started as a way for us to be able to travel between New Zealand and the States for longer  time periods whenever we wanted, and evolved into a conscious decision that we believe is best for our family.

Hard at work!

So here I am, finally a Mommy who is blessed to be home with her kids full time and about to embark on this new adventure.   I retired from teaching special ed over the summer, so the teaching part isn't where I'm feeling challenged.    The real challenge, that both excites and terrifies me, is teaching MY kids and engaging them in learning and getting to know them in a whole new way.   

Today I decided to find an activity from The Preschooler's Busy Book   I got it for Christmas and finally got around to taking a peek.  There is a wide range of activities for all levels and interests and most can be completed using simple arts/crafts supplies and materials found around the house.

This morning we embarked on cleaning coins!   So simple: basin with a little water, dish soap, coins and old toothbrushes.   Both kids loved it.    They splashed a bit, explored different techniques and it became the perfect opportunity to teach my son (almost 4) the names of the coins.   My daughter (20 months), not to be outdone tried to name them too!  They were both sad when we had to clean up to go to the doctors 20 minutes later.   And my son asked to do it again during quiet time.

It was so much fun, so natural, and so the way learning should be!   I loved teaching in the public schools but also felt like I was locked into a box that was more focused on putting others into the box and sometimes made decisions that didn't really reflect the needs of the people.   And at the end of the day the people are what really matters.

Now I'm fired up!  And excitedly waiting for my Bright Beginnings preschool curriculum.   I love the idea of having a curriculum framework with a biblical focus to guide what I'm teaching.  This year as Hayden embarks on his last year of preschool I want to really get to know him as a learning so we can do amazing things together homeschooling!