Why is sleep so easy for me and so hard for babies?

I think my children are punishing me for all of the things that I wrote about other people's children on this blog when I was teaching. I'm pretty sure I still stand by all of those things that I wrote though. My goals and efforts to blog daily just fall apart when I get attacked by things like nap strikes, teething, nasty colds, and growth spurts all at the same time.

Here are my two issues regarding sleep. (And you have to listen because it's rude not to be at least sympathetic even if you don't have kids. I. Want. Your. Pity.) We'll start with the elder Piglet. He's a super duper awesome night sleeper and I've always considered this to be extremely important so I've never complained too much that he didn't nap with great length. But now? At least twice a week now, he decides that he doesn't need a nap. "No nap!" he says firmly and smiles with twinkly eyes. Those days most often coincide with preschool days because he gets so worn out at school that he quickly becomes overtired because his nap is about a half hour later than usual. Overtired is a word I never understood until I had babies. I always thought overtired meant you slept harder. Mwah ah ah ah ah! Pishposh. Rubbish. What it means is that the child gets more and more and MORE revved up and wheeeeeeeeeee! no sleeping in sight. In little ones, they cry hysterically, but toddlers apparently get very, very busy. There are so many things that Piglet does in his room: takes off his clothes, pulls all of his clothes from his drawers and makes a "nest" out of them which he occasionally sleeps in like a bird, walks on his bed, looks out the window and talks to the school bus, etc. The primary problem is that he will do this for 3 hours. "No nap!" he says. What really drives me bonkers is when knowing people tell me he's just ready to give up that nap. Oh, really? Then why does he act like a raving lunatic sobbing hysterical monster at 5:00 on the days he has no nap? Yeah. So, there's that.

Then there's Pigpen. He's a mystery. He goes down for his two naps brilliantly and sleeps on through them like a champ. But at bedtime you'd think we were stabbing him with needles when we put on that sleep sack and put him in his crib. Horrors! He's been put down awake since he was born and can put himself to sleep just fine, but he just gets very easily fried by the end of the day, even with good naps. He's just a kid who has to cry I guess. He sleeps through the night well, as long as there's not teething or illness or growing to do. Which is always lately. Also, he's trying to learn to sit and move around, so I think that's on his mind as well. Rolling over is beneath him. He can do it both ways, but is outrageously offended if you dare put him on his stomach. So the last couple of nights he did great. Now all of a sudden his teeth are all swollen and mean looking and he's angsty again. I went upstairs to give him some Tylenol and a cuddle earlier. His hands were flailing wildly around, so I kissed one as it flew by and somehow wound up with a big gooey booger on my bottom lip.

So that's where I've been. Motherhood is so glamourous.