Hold the applause on that whole sleep thing. Finn had three days of mediocre success with the midday nap and now it’s all over the damn place again. The good news is that his runny nose is almost totally gone and he’s kind of sleeping during the day again. We just discovered the poor lad was nursing an ear infection so now that it’s being treated, I think that’s helping him settle a little easier. He’s (mostly) taking two (short) naps again. Or one long-ish morning nap. Everything is pushed back by at least an hour from his former day time sleep needs, which was impossible when Leni was in preschool (because the second nap started when I needed to go pick her up). Now that’s she’s home, that makes the afternoon nap more manageable. When it happens, that is.

So I guess I’ll have to stay a little more flexible until he’s fully ready for the one nap and re-familiarize myself with his sleep cues (which have become very subtle). It’s never quite so black and white with sleep, is it? Hell, I struggle with it all the damn time.

My sister pointed out that we’re about to move into our new home in 3 weeks (can you believe it’s been a year!?) so that will most definitely shake things up again. My mission right now is to give him some consistent day sleep and keep him active when he’s up (this kid has energy to burn). Of course it would be great if it was one big nap (midday) nap, but he just doesn’t get enough when we do that just yet. Hoping that this’ll buy me at least enough time everyday to get some essential self-care again and help him feel better too.

No matter how many times the sleep stuff shifts (and after going through this multiple times with two kids), I still find myself feeling completely unprepared. I know (deep down) it will be fine eventually, but you never know when or how or what exactly will work. I have to remember to look at the long game. Forest through the trees and all that.

And most things with kids come down to consistency. These are things I know, but you have to go through the motions every single time first anyway. So I’ll ride the wave and try to be open to where it’s going to take us. Remembering that nothing lasts forever and we’ll be just fine.

And I’ll do my best not to turn everything upside down in the meantime!