Dropping His Nap

I don't even want to type the words because I feel like it makes it more real...  Cooper is dropping...has dropped...his nap.  My super sleeper is changing his schedule.  It started a few months ago when he began skipping one nap a week.  At first I thought it was just a phase and he'd go back to napping every day, but then a few weeks later he'd skip two naps a week.  Then a few weeks later, it was three naps a week.  That's when I realized IT was happening.  And, of course, just when I was getting the boys' afternoon naps lined up!

So, just in the last week or so, I've officially stopped even trying to get Cooper to take a nap.  It was starting to be a struggle and a battle between us, and it wasn't worth that or the grumpy Mama and three-year-old that it created.  

 It's taken us a few weeks to adjust to a new schedule.  Earlier dinner, earlier bath and in bed by 7:00 p.m.  And, if we get to 7:30 p.m. and Coop still isn't in bed, let's just say, it's not always pretty.  He has also started sleeping later in the morning, so I can tell his body is adjusting to losing that 2.5 hour nap.  He's not waking up until about 8:00 a.m. or 8:30 a.m. (most mornings).

We had to work through some tough behavior for the last month that I'm attributing to dropping that nap.  But, knock on wood, I feel like we've come out of the whirlwind mess that lack of sleep can bring on and we are all adjusting.  Coop slows down around 2:00 p.m. everyday, so that's when we have some "quiet time" around the house.  Well, as much as possible at least.  But I've found that that helps keep him happy and going through the evening.

Just another thing to remind me that my little monkey is almost FOUR YEARS OLD and taking another step in being a big boy.