Taking a Break {Our Naptime Routine}

It has not been a secret that Maysie is a horrible sleeper. 

Since we brought her home as a 5 lb 13.5 oz bundle of love she has slept with us. 

In the beginning it wasn't a problem. She was tiny and didn't take up much room.

But now that she is an active toddler she moves all around the bed and we end up looking like the letter H. 

She puts her foot on my husband's head.

Her head is balancing on my head.

We get kicked and headbutted all . night . long!

If we even said the word nap or bedtime she would start screaming and crying. 

We tried letting her cry it out which made it worse. We tried letting her play until she dropped but that never worked either. {I swear she has more energy than the Energizer Bunny}

So I knew something had to change. 

Somewhere along the line, I read an article about the negative connotations around the words nap, bedtime, and sleep. The article suggested using alternate words like "take a break" when talking with your child. 

So we started "break time".

So if you are interested, here is how we handle "break time" at our house. 

After lunch {Noon} we get Maysie all cleaned up. She is such a messy eater!

I let her run around for 30 minutes and then we head upstairs!

She comes into our room {also where her crib is} and climbs onto our bed. 

She grabs her caterpillar and snuggles down into the pillows. 

We read 5 books.

{We don't really read this book. We read the first 3 pages and then she is done!}

This is her favorite book! She can't wait to read it. 

After the books have been read, I place her in her crib.

I cover her with our wedding blanket. She calls it her nap blanky. So I go with it and wrap it around her.

I tell her to close her eyes and take her break. She promptly closes her eyes. I place my hand on her chest. She opens her eyes and closes them again. She keeps them closed for a few more minutes and then opens them to make sure I am still there. She then closes her eyes for the final time. 

I wait two minutes and remove my hand from her chest. 

I wait another minute and then walk out of the room.

She is out and will nap for 3 hours. 

This whole "taking a break" thing rocks!!

What does your nap/bedtime routine look like?