Naptime

So I guess Aaron has hit that inevitable stage of not taking naps every day.  I'm determined that he has at least quiet time in his room at naptime until he starts Kindergarten.  But since he tends to melt down more on days he doesn't nap, I'm not ready to give up naps completely.  So I've been experimenting to see what works.

He had gotten to the point where he was only going to sleep at naptime 2-3 times a week.  On days he didn't sleep, he would be noisy enough I'd have to go in a few times.  I tried rewarding him when I didn't have to go in (with an unspecified "special treat" after naptime).  I tried punishing him if I did have to go in (taking away buddies and losing bedtime stories).  But it wasn't working.  He was also starting to have to go #2 during naptime, so he'd make noise until I came down to his room and then he'd tell me he had to go.  He used to go before naptime like clockwork, but before naptime, he'd say he didn't have to go and wouldn't go despite sitting on the potty before naptime.  Since I work while the kids nap, his interruptions were becoming a problem. 

First, we tried allowing him quiet time in his room until 1:30pm.  At 1:30, he needed to stop playing and get in bed.  This worked well for a couple of days.  But then he started getting too many toys out and couldn't relax in bed at 1:30 because he felt like he had to clean up.  After catching him out of bed on two occasions after 1:30, we cut out the quiet time privilege.  But we went back to the same problems as before.

So starting last week, I implemented a suggestion from our nanny.  If he takes a good nap one day, meaning even if he doesn't actually sleep, he is quiet and doesn't have to come out to go potty, then he earns quiet time the next day.  But quiet time now is from 1-3pm.  This way he doesn't have to worry about cleaning up and getting into bed.  If he's not quiet during quiet time and I have to come in, he's done with quiet time and has to get in bed.  Even if he has a good quiet time (and so far he always has), the next day is still a nap day.  So at most he can have quiet time every other day.  That hasn't happened yet.  In the 10 days since we've started this, he's had 2 bad nap days where he didn't earn quiet time the next day.  In fact, one day he even woke Audrey up an hour early.  But the days after a bad nap day, he had good naps, even if he didn't sleep.  So I know he can be quiet. 

On quiet time days, he can take books into his room and I leave his closet doors unlocked and open.  He usually takes beginner reader books with him and I'll hear him reading them at the start of nap time (talking quietly is OK, just not loud banging or yelling).  At 3pm when he opens his door, I can see what he's done during nap time.  Typically, he'll have gotten out all the wooden letter blocks and organized them by letter.  He has some sight words in a little box and he'll have those out and lined up on the floor.  He has fraction cards with little fraction pie pieces from 1 whole to twelfths (excluding 7ths 9ths and 11ths) and he'll have those out.  He has cuisinaire rods which he'll have out and sorted by color, lined up on the ground.  So there is a lot of stuff out on the floor, but it is all sorted and organized.  He's in an organizational phase lately.