experiments

I promised Oliver an afternoon adventure and for a change, I did not disappoint. I picked him up from summer camp (also known as daycare, but it's summer so we call it summer camp) and took him to campus, where we visited my new department. He got a snack and was remarkably friendly to my new co-workers. Then we visited the Cognitive Development lab today, to play "a cooter game", "cooter" being his word for "computer". He got a water bottle and a t-shirt for his participating in their latest experiment. Then we went to get his hair cut. It's been looking scruffy and with a trip to Maine in our very near future, and probably an opportunities to do photos, it was time for a trim. 

Poor Oliver is cursed with my hair. It only looks good cut within an inch (or less) of its life. And in the summer? It needs to be cut early and often. Scruffy and sweaty are a bad combination. I offered CD the chance to take a crack at the hair, since he has been his own barber for many years. He declined.

It's amazing any of us are even functional today. Eleanor had an incredibly difficult time sleeping last night. There were at least five parental visits to her room, one lasting over 90 minutes. I rocked and swayed until I could do it no more, and still she howled. Daddy eventually worked his magic but we have not had a night like that in a very long time. She's been such a great sleeper (and napper) that we are spoilt.

I have a number of theories why she is suddenly having sleep troubles. Since she is going to daycare in a few weeks, I started to think about the things Oliver was doing in the infant wing to prepare to move to the young toddler room, which is where Eleanor will be. The biggest transition was to one nap a day, on a mat. Eleanor typically naps two hours in the morning, and about that long in the afternoon, usually in her crib. I suggested to our nanny that she try one nap and we would see how things went. I should have realized immediately that it was a gigantic failure. She wasn't sleeping very long, was falling apart while I cooked dinner, and was rubbing her eyes at 6:30pm.

Last night was the last straw. I told the nanny to go back to two naps and Eleanor napped well today. She had some trouble going to sleep, and CD eventually had to help her, but I hope it's just a little residual anxiety from last night. So much for sleep experiments. Her teachers are going to have to sort out the nap issue. Surely she won't be the only kid who is still on two naps, right?