Yes, Emily is getting toward the end of her nap, and I have decided (perhaps unwisely) to sit down a blog for a minute. Her naps can be anywhere from one to two hours + and at the moment she's coming up on that plus--pushing three.
A friend commented on my last post that her daughter's bedtime is about 7:30 in part because she refuses to nap. I have other American friends who have told me similar stories: they can't get their kids to sleep in the middle of the day. I have never had this problem, in fact, quite the opposite. Depending on where we are or what's going on, I cannot keep Emily awake past about 3pm!
Siesta in Spain varries around the country, but even in big cities you can find small businesses that close from about 3-5pm. In (here she woke up...) a small town like La Roda you can't find anything but a few bars open that time of day, so even if you don't sleep people do tend to slow down for their mid-day meals. We usually lie down and most days sleep for at least 45 minutes. For Angelines the siesta is sacred. Anyone who disturbs her quite time will hear about it...or at least get a killer glare for it.
When she was younger Emily took two naps, as I think most babies do once
they are through that phase of non-stop sleeping as newborns; but as she
got older she has fallen into a sleep pattern more similar to our own. Siesta is just a part of our life and so although we have never really imposed a schedule on her, she goes down daily with little or no trouble. It's hard for me to consieve of a child who refused to nap... These few minutes (sometimes an hour or so) of each day when I can do what I like without a toddler constantly demanding my attention--MAMÁÁÁÁ, MAMÁÁÁÁÁÁÁ!--are precious to me.
Well, she's up and at 'em now...so I'd best be off. I promise a more newsy post soon.
Our little dropped the second nap quite early as well -- stopped that around 6 months or so? That's considered early here; most kids do two naps until at least a year. She is just so excited about life! I wish she would nap -- the break would be nice. But it is the evening hours where we enjoy the peace and quiet.
ReplyDeleteWe had a lot of troubles with sleep, so I'm not sure she's the best example. She will sleep at daycare when everyone else is going down (at least, most days). But on the weekends, with mama and daddy, she pretty much only sleeps if we are doing something like walking with her in the carrier or stroller and being boring.
Again, tho, she drops asleep between 7.30 and 8 pm and sleeps soundly until about the same in the morning if we let her, so I cannot complain too much. I do so love afternoon naps tho.