Our first week of school went well, with the exception of Arden not taking a single nap at all in the last, oh, 8-9 days or so. He's been one cranky kid.
But...
(Drum roll, please)
HE IS TAKING A NAP RIGHT NOW!!!
I had an idea rolling around in my head and decided to step out in faith and put it into action to see if it would work. I thought that perhaps it was a nudge from the Lord, as I've been praying about our afternoons, which are as of yet rather unscheduled--I still want/need to work on finishing our MOTH (Managers of Their Homes) schedule so that we can be sure we are allotting time for all the fun and necessary activities that go along with running a home, home school, and home business.
After starting WOW last week, I began to wonder how I would manage my quiet time. Should I completely drop my read-through-the-Bible-in-a-year program in favor of being able to complete the 5 days' worth of studies each week, each of which require at least 30-45 minutes of time? Or should I try to do both? Obviously the chances of me getting an hour and a half of peace and quiet to do everything at once are slim to none! Last Friday and Saturday I worked on the Beth Moore study during Arden's "nap" times, and though it was fraught with interruptions, the studies got done.
Well. I had recently looked up the PBS listings to see what time Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood was on, as the kids had been reminded of him and asked if they could see him again--shockingly, the program is not even on! But, I did find that Bob the Builder is on every day at 2:30 p.m. Having checked out some Bob DVDs from the library, I had decided that they were pretty good material for the children to watch as a treat now and then, and the kids love the episodes. I pondered the possibilities of letting them watch once or twice a week. However, I usually put Arden down for his "nap" between 1:30 and 2 p.m. My idea was...why not let him stay up and watch the half-hour episode, then try putting him down for his nap afterward?
Suffice it to say, it worked today. Whether it was because Arden had gone 9 straight days without napping...whether it was because he just couldn't fight it anymore after waking at 6:45 this morning and having naptime pushed back...whether watching TV was enough to calm him down...OR whether God has chosen to bless me with a napping child when I truly set aside time to spend in His Word--I really don't know, but all I can say is, I am SO thankful that I had about 40 minutes of quiet study time, and here I am blogging while he sleeps peacefully! The trick will be to wake him before too much longer so that he will go to bed well tonight!
1 comment:
Yay for naps!! Two months ago I'd given up on Sela napping anymore, but then two weeks ago we started getting her up at 7 a.m. every morning regardless, and all of a sudden she was tired enough to nap every day, sometimes even as early as 11 a.m.! We're still trying to get her to bed by 8 p.m. every night, and now we're contemplating adjusting the routine slightly so that when we turn back our clocks she's not waking up on her own before 6 a.m. I am really hoping to get both kids on a schedule where at least their bedtimes coincide. Sela tends to want to nap right smack between Evan's morning and afternoon nap. Last night we thought we had her down for the night at 7 p.m., but at 7:45 she was knocking on her door and asking to use the potty. She'd already wet her diaper and needed to poop. Of course by that time of the evening, dinner had worn off and she needed a snack. *sigh* She was finally in bed for the night at 8:30.
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