Naps

Whoever came up with the idea that naps are great for kids must have never had kids themselves. Let me back up, I'm not advocating no naps period, we all know that leads down a path of destruction few parents want to talk about. Let me give you an idea of a typical nap period in our house (I'm in the middle of one right now) though, because sometimes in a moment of insanity I question their worthwhileness (is that a word). So, it's Sunday right and we've just come home from church. Two were home sick today, so that already has thrown a loop into the whole nap routine in general. Lunch is not very pleasant because of sickness of course and also tiredness. Lots of whining about cookies before lunch is even eaten. You get the drift. Anyway, I take our third, Mikaya, upstairs to bed, because of course she need to share a room with one of her older twin sisters (we live in a three bedroom townhome). The key is to get her to sleep before her older sister comes in. Otherwise, it's like a midday party. After I'm done putting her down, I attempt to put one of our twins down, Eliana, which is always challenging given that she and her sister are 4 1/2, which means their growing out of naps, but without naps their like totally different girls in a not so good way:) So, she goes into our room (the master bedroom that is). After about ten minutes, I go to check on our third born and she's fast asleep, so I think I'm smart and transfer Eliana to the same room, because for some reason there's a fighting chance she'll sleep when she's in a room with an already sleeping person, but not in ours where it's just too boring and quiet? At this point, I think sweet, two down, two to go. Well, my wife informs me that our fourth born, Karina isn't quite tired yet, so I can stick the remaining twin, Nadia in the last available room, because the baby is not going down yet, which I do. All is quite for a short amount of time, but alas there is coughing from Mikaya's room and she wakes up and of course she and Eliana start chatting about lots of things (dollies, potty, etc.). I'm back up the stairs. Eliana goes back into our room, and Mikaya has thrown up a little so I'm cleaning her up with wipes, refusing to believe I may have to bathe her, because then the whole napping schedule would be off. I hope you're following me here. I now have three kids in three different rooms and Karina is still downstairs. Finally it's time to put her down, so with a full bottle being given, I think she's ready of course. I take her up to the room Nadia's in and although it's been deathly silent, Nadia is of course not sleeping (she's quite stealth at playing quietly) and so I put Karina in her crib and take Nadia out. I go back to Mikaya's room. It's been about ten minutes, and I'm hopeful that she's finally fallen asleep so I can put Nadia in that room. Well as it would, Mikaya is not sleeping and is quite disturbed by our presence and starts to cry. So... Nadia is off back downstairs to lay on the couch while I soothe Mikaya. Karina begins to cry and I find out she's pooped, so I change her and lay her down, which she is not too happy about, but that's life in a big household, and after checking in on Mikaya again who's shouting, "I want to go downstairs," I find out her diaper needs changing too. It goes on and on like this of course. Back to my original statement: I obviously see the need for naps; I mean tons of research supports their use, but after all this work, sometimes I wonder. Where's the easy button for naps really! And my wife deals with this every day. She's a saint. Truly! Well, I've gotten my thoughts out, and I'm listening in on the three rooms to hear that at least two of the four are still awake. Oh Joy:)