Exhausted

Sometimes I think I push her a little too much some days. Some days I wish she'd stop taking naps. Other days, I'm watching the seconds on the clock until naptime is near.

Today, I think we pushed her beyond her limits. But, despite that, she was still a very sweet little girl! Thank goodness though because we were visiting with long-time friends Aunt Mary and Uncle Bill (more like family than friends). And, I wanted them to at least get the impression that I'm a somewhat good mother.

It is 7:25 p.m. She fell asleep for naptime around 5:30 p.m. I guess we should have just waited for her to just go down for the evening. However, I've never really been good at that style of parenting. If my child is tired, no matter what the time, I generally (notice I didn't say always) put her down for naptime or bedtime. Unfortunately, that also normally means a much later bedtime.

Perhaps I should wake her? Nope! Again, not really my style of parenting. Not that I haven't done that many a time just to figure out my style of parenting. And, I'm still working on figuring out my style of parenting. But, today, that isn't my style of parenting. I mean, seriously, you never wake a sleeping baby (or toddler), right? Of course, I'll regret her napping at 7:25 p.m. later this evening.

Hubby got her down for naptime this afternoon at 5:30 p.m. I sat in the business center in the lobby of the hotel to catch up on my e-mail and the news. While I sat there, my heart ached for some reason that I couldn't quite figure out. Now I know why. When I got back up to the hotel room, hubby looked pretty frustrated. He said he had just gotten her to sleep 1 minute ago. She apparently was less than thrilled that I wasn't there. She needed her Mommy, and as a result, she made his life for the past 45 minutes pure hell.

She did finally fall asleep around 5:30 p.m., but awoke again at 6:00 p.m. I picked her up and then held her for a few minutes. I then asked her if she wanted me to lay her down in our bed. "Uh huh," she said. So, she laid her head down on one of those soft, feathery pillows, and she's still sound asleep as the night draws near.