Laura didn’t have her regular nap yesterday. The afternoon was not pleasant.
The mistake I made was trying to run an errand with her just before lunch. I know better. But I needed to go to the post office. I was hoping to go by myself. Of course Laura spotted me grabbing my purse and promptly asked “where we goin’, Mommy?” Usually I would explain that she’s staying home with Daddy and he would distract her while I sneak out but Robert has a bad sinus infection so I didn’t want to put him through that. Off we went to the post office. Once our package was in the mail we headed home. Less than 2 blocks later, Laura was asleep.
We got home and I tried to move her from the van to the car but since I spent an extra 5 minutes talking to my friend on the phone, Laura’s brain was convinced that she’d already had her nap and more sleeping would just be a waste of valuable playtime. That was totally my fault. How dare I try to have an adult conversation? Who cares if we have no cell signal in our apartment? The nerve!
Needless to say, the move from the van to her bed didn’t go as planned. After 30 minutes of unsuccessful soothing and rocking, I gave up. I knew exactly how the rest of the day would go…but I gave up anyway.
Nothing was right for Laura after that. Her sisters touched everything she didn’t want them to touch. The dog tried to take a nap on her blankie. She didn’t want to come inside when it was time to come inside. She didn’t want to leave her handfuls of dirt and sticks outside. The dog looked at her funny. She didn’t want a banana for snack much less juice. The dog ignored her. There was no happiness for Laura.
At 4:45, she fell asleep…on the sofa…in the living room…I decided to leave her in hopes that she would wake in a different mood.
At 6:00 we were serving dinner and Laura began to rouse. I was thinking – great, she’s had a little rest so now we can enjoy dinner and the rest of the evening. Boy was I wrong. The word grumpy doesn’t begin to do her mood justice. Dinner was not what she wanted. She wasn’t ready to put on her pajamas. We weren’t watching what she wanted to watch on TV. She wanted something to drink but didn’t want anything we offered. This went on and on and on and on……
Eventually it was time for bed and to my surprise, she went willingly. She was asleep within seconds. As I stood in the doorway listening to her breathe, I was overcome with love for this little girl. Despite the difficult hours just prior to this moment, I was reminded that she is a sweet, caring, imaginative and smart child. We’ve all had bad days more than we’d like to admit. That’s all this was. A bad day for Laura. Besides, she’s absolutely adorable when she sleeps!! 😉
Yes, I realize that none of these pictures are from her bed. Once she’s asleep in her own bed I wouldn’t dare wake her with the flash! 🙂
