May 8, 2002 - Wednesday
I happened to ask Harry's daycare provider last week how he'd been doing with naps since we restarted him taking naps there. For about six weeks now he's been there long days on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, but coming home after lunch for a nap the other days when his mother is at home and our experience has been increasingly hit or miss. He's become adamant about not having his bedroom door closed and he's often fidgeting until 1:30 or 2:00 before falling asleep, often making naps last until 4:00 or later. That really gets too close to dinnertime for us to go on any kind of real outing and that means Harry well likely get bored. So, when she said he was a great napper, usually falling asleep around 1:00 with a book on his face just after the end of their story time, I immediately started wondering whether this alternating schedule was the right thing to be doing.

Could it be that he is just too excited when he comes home to his parents so that falling asleep quickly is too difficult? Could it be that bouncing back and forth every other day is in some way too traumatic? Could it be that he's just giving his parents some of the business? Whatever the answer, Harry mother and I made an almost immediate decision (itself a rarity) to alter the schedule and have Harry nap there daily and come home at 3:00 right after that rather than 4:30 or 12:30 as it is now. Part of that decision is for better napping, but we also realized that, come the fall when Harry's at the new daycare, he'll be spending five consistent days per week coming home at 3:00 after a nap and that maybe we should just get into that habit now. And, it will be as much as a habit change for me as for Harry, since I'll be spending two hours each weekday afternoon with both Harry and Jeremy.

That new schedule for Harry started on Monday, but I took Harry out on the bike and didn't pick Jeremy up until the usual time. Today, I had both and we had what will likely be the our first of many outings, this time to the mall and the Home Depot. Here I am, and father wandering the mall with two small boys in a shopping cart four days before Mothers Day. I could just see the eyes of the saleswomen light up with anticipation as they directed me to the "special gifts for mom" displays at there various stores. They didn't understand. I'm in this for the long hall.


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