Snooze

Sometimes when I'm driving with the boys in the back seat I'll ask Benjamin, "How are you doing?" And he'll say, "Good," in his sweet little almost-two-year-old voice. Then I'll ask, "How is Rhett doing?" And he replies, "Good," once more. And if I ask him, "What is Rhett doing?" he inevitably replies, "'Nooze," meaning that Rhett is taking a snooze.

A snooze. Most days I would love to take one. Most days I don't. And up until recently Benjamin has been a great snoozer during his afternoon naps. But a big change was made in his almost-two-year-old life which has put a wrinkle in our not-quite-perfect-but-perfect-for-us sleeping routine.

A big-boy bed.

Benjamin has been sleeping in a Pack-n-Play since he was seven months old. Up until now we haven't had room for a crib, so it was a great space- and money-saving alternative.

But, of course, he has grown a lot since he first started snoozing in the Pack-n-Play. For weeks, even months probably, he's been sleeping with is face smushed against the mesh sides of his bed, so that when he wakes up the pattern is imprinted on his forehead, and we decided that now was a pretty good time to upgrade the sleeping accommodations.

We had family and friends come into town to visit us recently, so we purchased a twin matress at Costco for their use, and for Benjamin's new bed once everyone left.

The first night was fine. It was Monday, so our Family Home Evening was dedicated to saying goodbye to the baby bed and hello to Benjamin's new bed! We put him to bed that night with no problems.

Yesterday Benjamin's naptime came around. I laid him on his bed and left the room, shutting the door behind me as always. A few minutes later the door opened and Benjamin was at my side. That was the first time he had ever opened a door on his own. Go figure. I tried to get him to go back to his bed. Later Paul, at work, received this text message from me:

Big boy bed = naptime failure

Benjamin cried through the afternoon, cried through dinner, then snuggled in my lap with his blanket for a few minutes where I hoped he'd fall asleep. But he didn't. So we went through the bedtime routine and tried again to lay him down in his new bed. I even tried lying next to him but he would just get up and try to run out of the room. He finally went to sleep after Paul laid on the ground next to his bed.

So this afternoon I anticipated a struggle. And got one. I tried lying next to him. Even after putting his teddy bears and Mr. Potato Head down for their naps, Benjamin still didn't want to go down for his. I spent several minutes holding his door closed from the outside, hoping he'd cry himself into exhaustion and fall asleep in the doorway. When he did quiet down I resumed my tending of Rhett only to be joined by Benjamin a few minutes later. I led him back to his room and repeated the previous scene. This time when Benjamin came out of his room he hovered timidly in the hallway, then sneaked into the kitchen, presumably to eat Cheerios. I led him to his room once more, and laid down again. When he was finally sucking his thumb with his eyes closed I tried to sneak away, but the plastic cover on the mattress gave me away and Benjamin rolled over and said, "No! Mamma snooze!" So I lay back down.

But this is what I have now.

After two and a half hours Benjamin is finally taking a much-needed snooze. And I didn't even have to unpack the Pack-n-Play (which was my plan). I may need to try CJ's felt doll role play idea at our next FHE. Any other suggestions?