A Farewell to Naps.

I've been putting off writing this post now for the past couple of weeks, not quite wanting to believe it was true, but alas, it seems official: Ava no longer naps. *sob*

It started the week I was off in mid-May with Ava straight up refusing to nap for five days in a row. Apparently that's all you need to form a habit, because since then, the majority of days, Ava doesn't nap. In fact, she hasn't napped once all week :(

I'm sad over this, but only a little. To be honest, if I was a stay-at-home mother, this may be more of a loss for me. I'm not, though, and it seems more often than not that trying to find a way to cater to Ava's naptime is a pain, with me frequently having to drag her in and out of the car while sound asleep - an anxiety-yielding situation for anyone. I will admit that come 5pm I'm ready to pull my hair out, but that's because she turns into a temperamental little firecracker once her need for sleep catches up with her. My drive home everyday has turned into a comedy of errors with me doing whatever it takes to keep her awake. Bad mother confession: I frequently resort to feeding her snacks and even candy to keep her up in the car, because a nap at 5pm means bedtime is shot all to pieces!

Still, as much potential as this transition may hold to make my working life easier, it seems yet another tangible sign that my baby is, well, no longer a baby. Any second now, I'm going to kiss her goodbye at her Kindergarten classroom and go home to dye my gray hairs and get fitted for orthodics! I mean, reallly, how has this happened?

I'm trying to look forward, and be excited for all that the future and her preschool years holds - ballet lessons, her first day of preschool, our final farewell to diapers - and I am, but a part of my heart hurts to say goodbye to this phase.

Perhaps it's time for another baby?