You are getting sleepy...

I decided to do a post on our new naptime routine in case there's anyone else out there reading this blog who might benefit. Over the past 9 months or so, naptime had been hit or miss with Nathan. On some days, he'd be out like a light, while on other days it was constant requests to get up to pee, poop, get a drink, snuggle, etc. It was quite maddening. Of course, with no nap he would be exhausted, wild, and basically unruly the rest of the day. Then I started using a timer (I have a "timer" sound on my phone and would just make it go off when I thought he'd rested long enough. This worked until he starting asking every 2 minutes if the timer was going to go off. Then we instituted no talking while resting, and it would go something like this:
Nathan: Mommy, I'm sleeping, see my eyes are closed?
Me: No, you are not sleeping, because you're talking.
N: No talking?
Me: That's right, no talking, just resting.
N: Oh. *pause 30 seconds*
N: Mommy?
Me: Yes?
N: I all done talking, okay? I not talk anymore.
Me: Sigh :)


THEN I had a wild idea to try some progressive relaxation and visualization in bed right at the beginning of naptime. Overnight, I reached a nap success rate of about 90%! I assumed the two were related (because correlation doesn't equal causation, people!), but yesterday when I picked him up from school, he told me something really interesting. I asked if he napped, because he often doesn't at school, and he told me "yes I did my squeezing and rainbow exercises and then I took my nap." Here is our routine for those who are interested in trying:


- Of course darken the room and have your kid lie down in their bed comfortably. I ask Nathan to close his eyes, but I don't force it if he opens them. Sometimes he even laughs, but it doesn't seem to affect the outcome.
- We start with a progressive relaxation where I have him tighten and release his muscle groups from bottom to top, ending with his face. He's supposed to squeeze "tight, tight, tight" and then release with an "ahhhhhh." 
- Next we imagine a beautiful rainbow. I tell him to imagine that he's reaching out to touch it (he usually actually does reach his arm out) and first I describe the red, yellow, and orange feeling warm and the warmth spreading through his body like the warm sunshine. Then we do cool colors and I tell him to imagine the feeling washing over him like the ocean.
- Lastly, I count backwards from 10 slowly and attempting to get him to take one deep breath in and out on each number. The last breath is supposed to be the biggest and deepest. 
- After that, he doesn't just magically drop off to sleep. He still usually asks for a hug, or where his stegosaurus is, etc. And he usually takes a little while after that to continue winding down, but he does usually fall asleep after a  while. If you're having trouble getting your kids to nap, I strongly encourage you to try this! It's about a five minute investment of your time, and worst case scenario, it doesn't work but maybe YOU feel a bit more relaxed :)