"Boycott ALL Naps!"

I am losing my mind here. When people told me that the 1 year molars were a long and hard process, I took it with a grain of salt. But here I am going through some really, really rough days with Noah. I just told my girl friend, Amy, that I feel like I still have a newborn. With all of the travel we have done, his virus last week and now with these molars that are REFUSING to pop through, Noah has gone from being a great napper to being a terrible napper in a matter of weeks.

But we are now back at home in Hawaii, the virus has passed and we are just waiting for these teeth to come through. In the meantime though, I am resolved to reclaim the "Me" time I so miss having. We are going to try to start dropping his morning nap and consolidate his afternoon nap into one 3 hour nap. That is a painful process though! Couple it with the above issues and you have a very cranky baby. Yet, by the time the afternoon rolls around, it is all Dan and I can do to keep him up until bedtime. And bedtime has gotten earlier and earlier: the last few nights, he's gone to bed between 6 - 6:30 and that is all due to his refusal to nap for longer than 45 minutes - 1 hour during the day (DEFINITELY not enough for Noah).

I put him in his crib at 1:30 today and it is almost 3. He's not stopped cooing, then crying, then cooing, then whining yet. But I am making him stay in his crib for the minimum of 2 hours without going into his room. We have a very strong-willed child and I have just begun to read the new version of "Raising a Strong Willed Child" by Dobson. Unfortunately, anything good or easy for our family comes from a long, hard struggle of patience and perserverance; neither I had the luxury of having when we were in Alabama for a month.

I have had my fill of letting a 1 year old dictate my every move. And with a nasty head injury and my husband at work, I am having to be a bit selfish right now. Hopefully with this selfishness and determination, my child will get the sleep he so desperately needs. He looks like he's been hit in the eyes right now! The black circles under his eyes are painful to look at. Thankfully he's still sleeping 12-13 hours each night but he has to get back to the business of napping soon.... for all of our sakes!