Sleepytime woes

A few weeks ago, Mallory gave up her daily hour-long nap. I have been growing increasingly tired of chasing her back to bed 20 times every night and finally concluded that maybe she is a little bit too well-rested. Then one day, Cindy had something going on, and Mallory missed her nap there. I talked to Cindy about it and told her that I was thinking of having her drop her nap anyway, and so we decided that that was the end.It hasn’t been all that successful. After a couple of days, Mallory came home from Cindy’s, tired and cranky, wailing, “Cindy says my mom won’t let me have a nap!” She has fallen asleep on the couch as I make dinner numerous times. Yesterday, she fell asleep in the car on the way home from Cindy’s. (The heat this week isn’t helping!) In fact, she is liable to pass out just about anywhere and at almost any time now. She can be a bear by the end of the day and to be honest, it hasn’t made bedtime much easier. She still gets out of bed numerous times, requesting a drink of water, insisting she has to go to the bathroom (the one request I will never, ever deny is a trip to the bathroom!) or just peeking in to see what we are up to after hours.As for me, I have been mourning the loss of that middle-of-the-day hour when I could get a few things done without having Mallory underfoot. Of course, now that she’s gotten a taste of the good life (i.e. no more going to bed while everyone else gets to stay up and have fun), there’s no going back. So I think we are stuck with little miss bear until she outgrows this phase.

Last night was the straw that broke the camel’s back: we were already having a rough bedtime, but yesterday was also the day I took her ‘white blanket’ (i.e. her duvet) away. (The duvet has been out of its cover for a couple of weeks because it was too hot for the additional layers; thus the reference to it being white.) It’s too hot for it now, period, but Mallory is livid. “Bring my white blanket back!” she cried. I tried to console her with her sheet and quilt, but she wasn’t having any of it. Unfortunately for her, she’s out of luck. The duvet is at the dry cleaner’s and then it’s being packed away until October. It’s supposed to hit 92 degrees today – I’m sure she’ll be warm enough without it.