Please send reinforcements.

My daughter will be two on September 7th. Back in mid-July we converted her crib to a toddler bed, and have gone the last month or so without any issues. In fact, her sleeping was better than ever – she wasn’t as restless and was sleeping 11 to 12 hours overnight, and sometimes more. “Why didn’t we think of this sooner?” I would ask myself as I rolled out of bed at 10am.

Today, we have entered the “sneak out of your crib and play quietly in the loft until I accidentally set off a loud toy and Mama hears me” phase.

Nap time in our house is from about 1-3pm. She normally plays for a couple of minutes while she settles in, but then sleeps for a full two hours or so. Nap time has always been relatively drama-free. Sadly, naps this week have been steadily decreasing and yesterday’s only lasted an hour. Today, she’s not even trying.

After a long 10 minutes of bringing her back to her bed and waiting for her to get out and bringing her back again, I took her to our bed and lied down with her. Genius, I thought. I’ll wait till she falls asleep and then sneak out. Surely, this must work for other parents?

Isabella and I lie facing each other, our bottom arms tucked under our heads for support. She was closing her eyes and pointing to mine, so I closed one and looked at her from the other. There’s no harm in a quiet nap time game, is there? Plus, she thought it was hysterical that I only closed the eye she was poking. Until she decided it wasn’t funny anymore and slapped me on the cheek with all she had. “Sweet dreams, Isabella,” I told her, as I climbed out of bed and closed the door behind me.

All was quiet for nearly 15 minutes, and I assumed my plan worked. I snuck back in, armed with pillows to put on the floor should she make the three-ish-foot plunge and my camera (of course.)  What did I find? Not a sleeping Isabella.

Turns out she thought it would be a great time to take off her diaper, moisturize, and apply baby powder.

And she’s feeling mighty proud of herself.

It is now 2:45 and I am waving the white flag; Isabella is downstairs on the chaise watching Ice Age and eating peanut butter on toast.

Please send reinforcements. And coffee. Lots of coffee.