Around 15 months, Lil’ Tea Cup dropped her morning nap. It ended up happening just as I was scheduled to return to work, even though I had been wondering if it was time for quite a while. For about a month before both naps were turning into lots of playtime and a tiny bit of sleep. “Quiet time” works for one nap but when it was happening for both, the world was blowing up by 6 pm. After a few nights of tantrums after dinner, I knew the time had come.
We did it cold turkey and things thankfully went really well. In the beginning, she was still struggling a little around the middle of her old morning nap time, but it wasn’t anything that a snack and a little distraction couldn’t fix. Now that we have settled into a new routine, here is what our days look like at this point.
If you are interested in seeing what our days looked like with two naps, you can read about that here.
6:30 am – I get up and take a shower and start to get ready. If my husband is home ( he sometimes works midnights), he takes the dog out and feeds him and the cat; if he’s not home, I do that too.
7 am – One of us wakes Lil’ Tea Cup up and she has a bottle with me in bed. Then she usually plays in her room while I get dressed.
7:30 ish – If I am working that day (my schedule is variable because I am a substitute teacher), I leave for work. If my husband is home for the day, Norah stays with him. If he is not, I get her ready to go over to Grandma and Grandpa’s for the day.
Here is what Lil’ Tea Cup does during the mornings:
8:20 – Breakfast. She usually has oatmeal and fruit or pancakes and fruit. Sometime we have eggs or waffles but that is more commonly a weekend food for us.
8:30- 10 – Play time or out of the house activity. One day a week she has gymnastics during this time, which she goes to with my husband. On the weekend, she and I attend a Mom and Baby Music class during this time.
10 – 10:30 – Quiet time usually in her crib. She has some books and her doll and she plays by herself for a little down time. Sometimes she takes a quick little cat nap if the morning has worn her out. This is the time I run around like crazy and do all the chores I can squeeze in.
10:30 – We go out during this time normally. A walk, a trip to the store or if we have been out at music or gymnastics, we play at home. Lil’ Tea Cup has a snack and a sippy cup of milk around 11.
12:00 – Lunch time. We usually have leftovers for lunch plus some applesauce, yogurt or other fruit that is in season. Lil’ Tea Cup has a sippy cup of water with this meal.
12:30 – 3:30 – Nap time. We are back to a long afternoon nap and I am so glad. She wakes up happy and ready to go!
3:30 – Snack time and a sippy cup of milk. This is when I get home from work.
4:00 – Play time. We usually try to get outside again for a while since the weather has been so lovely. Often we visit Grandma and Grandpa around this time too if we have not seen them earlier. One day a week we have swimming lessons during this time so we speed out of the house after nap to make it there on time.
5:30 – Dinner time. We all eat together and Lil’ Tea Cup eats whatever we eat for dinner. If my husband worked during the day he comes home at this time.
6:00 – Quiet play. Something low key!
6:15 – Bath time, reading and songs. My husband usually does bath time while I get her bag ready in case I am working the next day. I also get diapers ready for washing if needed, and set out her clothes for the next day during this time. Then we read stories together before my husband heads downstairs. Just before bed, I sing to her while we cuddle and Lil’ Tea Cup and I have our end of the day chat. We talk about how well she did and about the next day. I sing her some songs and soak up all the cuddles I can before putting her in her crib for the night.
7:00 – Bed time! I head downstairs to wash dishes, pack lunches, tidy up the house, do laundry and then spend some time with my husband. I need to be near a phone for the hours of 8:30 – 10:30 each night to get an assignment for the next day, so I tend to stick around home most evenings. If I do not get a night time call, they can also call starting at 6:00 am to assign me to a classroom for the day.
11:00 – Bedtime for me!
blogger / pomegranate / 3491 posts
The one nap routine is a great one, huh? Sounds like you guys have a lot of fun.
pomegranate / 3225 posts
wow, if only I could get my child to sleep as much as Norah!
cherry / 248 posts
@KML636 I was thinking the same thing! My Nora is 19 months old and fights all naps. She never was a good consistent napper, I kept waiting for her to fall into a good routine and it never happened. My boys spoiled me since they were such great nappers. Nora doesn’t want to miss a thing.
blogger / apricot / 424 posts
@kml636: I am beyond spoiled with how well she sleeps. I’m afraid for the next one ha ha!
blogger / apricot / 424 posts
@threeplusme: it must be the name,! My Norah is so nosey too! She just doesn’t have any siblings yet so she is pretty good when we are home.
blogger / persimmon / 1398 posts
You guys have a great routine! I’m impressed with *your* bedtime! I’m lucky if I make it past 10!
blogger / nectarine / 2010 posts
That pretty much looks like our day since 13m. M dropped to one nap on his own at 8m, which ended up being ok. But he kept his morning nap and that was only a couple hours after waking, at the latest. So at 13m I pushed it to noon and then to 12:30 and just very recently at nearly 2.5y to 1. The only change as he gets older is his wake-up time gets earlier. Oh how I miss sleeping until 8:30!