In which Cherry takes a nap

To begin with, it's important to realize that Cherry doesn't take naps, unless she is sick (or ill, as she would say), and even then getting her to take one is quite an accomplishment. Sleep and Cherry just don't get along very well. Lately though, we've been trying to make her have "rest" time every afternoon in the hopes that it would help to straighten out her atrocious nighttime sleep habits. (Are you done laughing at me yet?) Thus far, it hasn't worked. In fact, if anything, they seem to be getting worse lately.

So, this morning at 4:23 I hear a little voice: "Mommy? I want to get up now." I tell her that it's too early to get up and go back to sleep. At 4:27 I hear a little voice: "Mommy? I went back to sleep. Now can I get up?" I tell her it's still too early, and to go back to sleep. At 4:29 I hear a little voice: "Mommy? I'm getting up now. I've tried and tried (hmph) and I just can't go back to sleep." I try one more time to put her back to bed, but she pulls out her final weapon. She yells. Since (a) she shares a room with Sapphire and Ezio and (b) we're in an apartment building, we get up. But I don't turn on the light. Oh no. Perhaps if I ignore her she'll fall back to sleep on the sofa. Or, perhaps she'll ask whether it's time to get up every 37 seconds until 5:40 when I'll cave and turn on the light.

Since she went to bed at 7:30, was awake from 10:30 to 11:30 after having a nightmare, and then got up at 4:30, she needs a nap today if she's going to make it through dinner without melting down into a sobbing puddle of Cherry. But I decide I'm going to stealthy about the whole affair; no point in giving her a chance to build resistance. Amazingly enough, she seems happy when I pick her up from school at lunchtime. The first words out of her mouth after I pick her up are "I don't want to take a nap today." So much for stealth.

After lunch (which she's too tired to really eat) I send her to the bathroom and then we go back and read two books, during which time she uses the bathroom twice, goes in search of a Santa she made in school to check whether or not it is bigger than the one in the book, and announces several more times that she isn't taking a nap. I smile sweetly.

Having finished our books, it's time to get down to business. In theory, I've just induced a calm, sleepy state, and she will happily go down for a nap. In practice, she's overtired and hyper-stimulated and screams at me when I try to sing her a lullaby because I've just called her a baby. Eighty minutes later she's shaken the water from her bedtime sippy cup all over her bed, squeezed half a tube of owie bum cream (better known as Desitin) onto her bedspread, been returned to her bed 15 times, removed all her clothing and put it back on, twice, . . .. "Can I be done yet?" "Once you have laid still in bed with your eyes and mouth closed for 5 minutes you can get up." Twenty-three seconds later? She's asleep.