Is napping a thing of the past?

The afternoon has approached, lunch has been served and cleaned up, and now it is time to begin the nap time routine. It usually consists of my youngest son laying down with me on the couch as we watch HGTV and he slowly nods off. "Usually" is the operative word lately! Today, after 30 minutes of laying down, no nap. My son didn't stop moving even for a second. He wiggled, tossed, turned, stood up, elbowed me, stuck his knee in my gut, and wiggled some more. I was outwitted, I had lost, the window had closed. Today, I gave up and sent my son to his room rather then continue the battle. Now that older brother is in school, the room is available for today's emergency.

Wow, loosing naps at 2 is... so many things...

1. As it relates to me, it's me loosing those few moments of alone time in the middle of the day. Time I use to catch up on emails, check FB, read a book, and time I us to just sit, alone.

2. It means MY napping during the day has come to end. My youngest still doesn't get the concept of sleeping through the night, so some days I'm exhausted by mid-afternoon and need a power nap. Kiss that good-bye.

3. Nap time will now begin to be referred to as "quiet time". Which means I send my son to his room, where he proceeds to play instead of nap. Which also means the room is destroyed and I add another cleaning project to the To Do List.

4. My little boy is growing up. Loosing the last nap is a huge leap out of the toddler world and into the world of a preschooler. I know he's only 2, but he thinks he's ready for the big time!

5. Looking on the bright side, maybe now bedtime will be earlier! Wow, the possibility of BOTH my kids asleep by 8 pm. I'm giddy with excitement just thinking about it!

The biggest question remains, is this for real? Has my 2 year old really dropped his afternoon nap? After a quick search on the parenting sites, I've come to the conclusion it's temporary - insert sad face here. Most children by age 2 have shortened the length of their naps, but not dropped them all together. I also discovered that this transition of no napping could take a while, up to six months. That being said, I think we are going to be getting more non-nap days then nap days, but there will be some nap days - insert happy face here.

Maybe today I can check the nap box, but tomorrow might be a different story. Tomorrow, I'll research things to do to help napping continue - that's if I get the time.