Naptime Reconnect

I lay the snoozing baby on the changing table to sleep, because man, this baby sleeps anywhere (he's just awesome like that) and sit on the bed with the big boy. I know if I lay the baby on the bed with us, the hyper two year old will wake him up, and I know baby is safe on the changing table because I'm only a few feet away and he's zonked out anyway.

We've had a hard day. Lots of time-outs, lots of yelling, very little obedience and very little listening. He woke up at 5:30 after going to bed at 10:00. The later he goes to sleep, the earlier he wakes up, every.time. We're all tired.

I sit on the bed with him and we read some books. It's time to take a rest, I tell him. (It's only noon- we usually don't start naptime till 2:00, but this day has just been, well, you know.) He lays down, I grab my laptop to respond to a friend's message.

He kicks me.
I slap his little booty.
We both cry.
He yells, "Don't hurt me!"
I respond with the same.
I don't know why I respond with just knee-jerk reactions-- though I know they are worse when I'm tired.
We don't "spank" so to speak, but I'm ashamed to say there are certainly times when I lose control.

We're tired, we're cranky, and we both are yearning for attention from the other in the way that we each want it.

I put the computer down.
Baby's still zonked out.
I open my arms and invite the big boy onto my lap.
He nuzzles in just as if I was nursing him.
I cradle him, we kiss, tickle, hug.
We apologize.
We say, "No more kicking. No more hitting. No more yelling."
Lots of "I love you"s.

He says, "I just want to snuggle you. Sing me a song."
I sing his Burkley Song.
He holds me tight and I lean my head back on the bed frame.

He dozes off.
I lay him down, get up and grab the sweet baby and bring him to bed with us.
Time for a naptime-reconnect.

I think we'll all wake up in a better place.