It goes something like this:
Six three oh, Mia wakes up, make our breakfast, start the day.
Near to eight, grab the rest, eat our eggs and go to play.
Ten three oh, chug a bottle, sleepy magic leads to nap.
Near to lunch, Mia wakes up, fill the tummies in a snap.
Twelve three oh, or sometimes one, Michael's down, girls wanna have fun.
Near to three, he wakes up, joins the party; we're not done.
Climb the stairs, one last time, nurse the baby, tuck her in.
Soon enough, she'll return, reunited with her siblings once again.
Now there's three, and there's me, 'til bedtime comes that's how we'll be...
It's hectic and hard to keep up with, and much as I adored those few days that I got my "Abby time" back when I created nap schedules that aligned, I had to concede that Mia simply wasn't ready for the change. She was struggling to make it to lunch, struggling to make it to bedtime, and failing to manage enough sleep either overnight or during the day to achieve a sufficient length of time appropriate to her current age.
One hurdle we did manage to overcome after scrapping my rescheduling experiment was her new-found reluctance to napping, which was likely being exacerbated by overtiredness. Though I'm having to put her down twice a day again, she's not really fighting me on it anymore, which makes the whole process much easier on us both.
And in return for the sudden abundance of quality sleep, Mia has improved on both her attitude and her horizons. She's suddenly beginning to let go of the nearby surfaces that she relies so heavily on to cruise around and has been standing freely, often without noticing that she's even done so. More impressive still, she's starting to try things like this:
Though I'd started to think that she might not be walking by thirteen months as her older siblings each did, after noting a distinct lack of interest, I'm now starting to open my mind to the idea. Who knows what she's capable of, now that she's realized what's possible?
