Naptime/Bedtime Routines

Thought it might be good for posterity's sake to jot down what Ollie's naptime and bedtime routines are these days. He is 14 1/2 months old now and is still taking two naps a day.

WAKING UP
Ollie typically wakes up around 5:30 or 6:00am. I change his diaper, nurse him, and put him in his Johnny Jumper until Mike's out of the shower and Merrit wakes up, which is usually around 7:00.

FIRST NAP
I nurse Ollie and put him down for his first nap at about 8:30 or 9:00am. He usually sleeps until about 10:30 or 11:00am...about two hours in all. (This is when Merrit and I do the majority of our school work.)

SECOND NAP
I nurse Ollie and put him down for his second nap at about 1:30 or 2:00pm. He usually sleeps until about 3:30 or even as late as 5:00pm....typically, two-and-a-half to three hours. Sometimes when he wakes up, he's content to hang out in his crib for as much as 30 minutes. He'll talk to himself, bang his feet against the crib railings, throw his blankets over the edge and onto the floor, and do mischievious stuff like that. Just like his big brother: A little monkey!

BEDTIME
By 7:00pm, Ollie is already rubbing his eyes and leaning his head against stuff (your shoulder if you're holding him, his high chair tray, the side of the couch, etc.). I nurse him and tuck him into his crib. By 7:15 or so, he is in his room with the lights out and, unless Merrit is in there keeping him awake (which does happen as often as not...one of the drawbacks to room-sharing), he's fast asleep by 7:30.

In the case of Merrit keeping him awake, Ollie does seem to get a second wind. He'll be up--again, contentedly playing all alone in his crib--well beyond the time that Merrit's gone to sleep. We'll even sometimes hear him in there as late as 9:30! So, we try to get Merrit's bedtime routine all squared away (put on PJs, brush teeth, pray, read a story, get a drink) immediately after dinner so that when I go to nurse Ollie and tuck him in, Merrit's pretty much ready to join him for sleepytime. It's a delicate balancing act!