Home Again

We've had to get creative with the sippy cups - straw cups are no longer fascinating (and he would flick the straw and milk caught inside would get all over the place, like, say the backseat of my car), so last night he picked out insulated sippy cups with cars on them instead. Went down with one last night, but was really not having it when I tried to slip it in there instead of a bottle overnight.

But my real source of frustration is not with bottles or sippy cups. It's with the fact that I thought 1:00 church was the answer to our Sunday nap time conflicts, and that I have (very sadly) been mistaken.

When we were at 11:00 last year, one of two things would happen. We would delay his morning nap (10:00/10:30) and he would fall asleep before we even left the parking lot after church, which meant he only took one nap that day and we had to grin and bear with a cranky kid; or he would get his morning nap and sleep for 2 or 2 1/2 hours and I would miss church.

Then 1:00 church rolled around and all seemed perfect: he could get his 2 hour nap in the morning and we'd make it in time for sacrament meeting, and leave church just in time for his afternoon nap! Then, he became a one-nap-a-day toddler. He still goes down around 10:30 or 11:00, and sometimes have little more flexibility on when we lay him down, but he sleeps for 3 to 3 1/2 hours, which means he sleeps right through church and then needs lunch right after he wakes up.

I have missed more Sundays now than I would like to count. And it's getting old. This past week I had lunch with a friend. Because C woke early that morning, I put him down early, knowing I would have to wake him up at 2 hours in if we were going to make our lunch date. He did really well on the drive and during lunch, but threw an ever-loving toddler hissy when I tried to get him back in his seat to come home. Then, he refused to lay down again that afternoon and was an absolute bear the rest of the day, complete with whining and writhing around on the floor. (I have witnesses.)

I thought maybe the same approach, if it worked, might be an option for Sundays. After a cranky Thursday afternoon, I swore it off. But this morning, I thought it is much better to deal with a fussy toddler than not to go at all. But then he refused his nap at 10:30 and all bets were off for both getting a decently rested kid and getting there on time. He was still wakeful as we edged toward church time, albeit in a crankier and crankier state of being. He took a bath, rubbed his eyes, fussed and cried and climbed up into his bed while still naked under his bath towel.

Needless to say, I lost steam on fighting to get him (or myself) ready. He was asleep by 1:10.

All you moms out there consider this a cry for help. How do you make it work when nap times and church times conflict?

~Nichole