It seems funny...

This is how I found my daughter almost 2 hours after I put her down for her nap.

It seems funny right?  Unsuspecting mom thinks daughter is asleep and randomly peeks in to check on her in what she thinks is the middle of naptime and finds this.  Two year-old has stripped naked and destroyed bed linens and is talking to herself.

UGH.  I was just messaging Meg and telling her Mimi's quiet time is 2-5 pm, and sometime it takes her an hour to go to sleep, and I have to check on her because she gets into mischief in that open twin bed.

I know that there is this age (that I dread) where children no longer need an afternoon nap if they get adequate rest at night.  Two and half years old is not that age, sorry not for my child.

You know how I know she needs an afternoon nap?  If for some reason we miss our afternoon nap, if I take her anywhere in the car or stroller she'll crash in 5 minutes.  If you can fall asleep that quickly, sorry you're not getting enough rest.   Also if she misses her afternoon nap, by 7pm she's a messy puddle of tears over which fork we give her with dinner. It's obvious to us she's tired beyond belief.

So no, I'm not accepting that my daily break her naptime age has passed.  My oh-so-intelligent husband remarked that maybe I"m not giving her enough outdoor playtime or time for physical exertion in the morning hours to "wear her out" so to speak.  Really?  You mean riding the train, walking 10 minutes to the museum, running around like a lunatic at the Children't museum with her friends for 2 hours, followed by snacks and more walking and another train ride isn't enough to tire her out!? I mean I"m tired just writing it!  Or how about the days she spends 3 hours at the park in the morning running, digging and climbing and STILL sometimes does not nap?  Is this child sneaking coffee when I'm not looking?

Now do you see my I had to convince my husband how flippin' crazy he was to think I could actually get dissertation work done at naptime?

So now it's 4:17pm, I read her stories in bed ata 1:30 and finally left her room around 2pm.  This momma is tired of fighting to get naptime.