A Tribute to Naptime

About a week after Jace was born, Brynlee decided that “babies sleep when the sun’s awake, but big sister’s only sleep when the sun sleeps” (because she was raised with wolves, nicknamed Lil’ Golden Flower and our schedule and the sun’s rotation is one in the same). And with that little epiphany we kissed Brynlee’s naptime good bye.

Oh, how I miss them.

I’m not above admitting that I need naptime. I need that me time, that short little break when the house is quiet. This week I’ve REALLY NEEDED it! We’ve got the bug at my house (again!), I am in the midst of hanging Christmas decorations, I haven’t had a chance to read blogs or email for days now (and I’ll have you know that my left eye is starting to twitch because of it) and last week’s episode of “The Office” still sits DVR’ed and unwatched. I swear it taunts me every time I turn on the TV only to instead put on “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” (Bryn’s newest obsession)!

Today I decided that I was going to reunite Brynlee and my good friend naptime. If only for a day! Just so I could get me list o’things done.

So, like any good mother does when nothing else works I loaded the kids in the car and said a quick prayer that she would be dead asleep before I used the entire tank of gas. While on our ride I kept sitting up straight and stretching my neck so I could glance in the rear view mirror to see if her little eyes had fallen shut. After about 8 times of doing this, Brynlee caught my eyes in the mirror and firmly said, “Mama me’s not sleepin’, me will tell you when me’s sleepin’, o’kay?”

After about 20 minutes of aimless driving she fell asleep (Hal-le-lu-jah). But just to be sure she was in a deep sleep I kept driving. Then we finally made our way back to the house. As I got Brynlee out of the car seat and headed for her bedroom I brainstormed every thing I was going to get done while she snoozed. The way I walked up those stairs was moving poetry. Seriously, not a sound escaped! I held my head at the perfect angle so my hair wouldn’t touch her face. I only walked on the balls of my feet and was cautions to only step on the very edge of the stair so it wouldn’t squeak. I held my breath until my face was red so my congested gasping wouldn’t awake her. I triumphed when I reached the top of the stairs. And as I made it to her bedside I seriously saw a quick vision of all the things I was going to get done during her slumber.

But, at that moment her little head popped up, her eyes opened bright, her voice sounded excited as she half-shouted, “Mama, me was asleep, but now me’s awake! Let’s go play Tea Party! We’ll have the snowman come and my teddy bear too. You will sit on the yellow chair. O’kay mama! I’ll sit on the red one. Is Jace awake? What chair can he sit on? Huh, mama, huh? Can I have a treat? Do you have any treats?!”

Ugh!