He wasn’t always, but he is now. At least 10 hours at night and 2-3 (often more) hours every afternoon - like clockwork. It’s a beautiful thing and I do everything possible not to mess with it.

But there was a day last week when it all got messed up. As usual, I had a plan. He would wake up at 6:30 (he always does, you know), we would play hard all morning, down for a nap at 12:30 and up in time to go for a walk with my friend at 4:00. Perfect. Foolproof.

Except he slept until 8:30.

I watched him carefully all morning for signs of tiredness, but he was going strong. 12:30, 1:00, 1:30. I knew he needed to go to sleep soon if I wanted to avoid having to wake him up to go for the walk. (Aside: The concept of ‘waking the dragon’ may have been created specifically to describe what happens when one tries to wake Andrew up. It’s frightening.)

At 2:00 the unthinkable occurred to me - maybe he should just skip his nap and rest in the stroller while Arlene and I walked.

I was feeling brave, so I broached the topic.

“Andrew, what do you think about skipping your nap today?”

He looked up at me, surprised, “No nap? But why?”

I started the explain the intricacies of our schedule and reminded him how grumpy he is when I have to wake him up and then I realized that I was over thinking (and over-explaining) the situation.

“We’re just not going to take a nap today, buggy. I’m sure you’ll be okay.” (read: I’m sure I’ll be okay.)

He went back to his sandbox, wide-eyed at the impossible turn the day had taken.

And, much to my chagrin surprise, it turned out just fine. He asked to go to bed at 3:00 and we compromised by watching two episodes of Curious George and snuggling.

As I sit here today, two hours in to his nap, a part of me still shudders to think that the day will come when he will not need a nap. When my introvert will have to look elsewhere for time to recharge. The thought of being on and engaged all day still terrifies me a little bit. But then I remind myself that those days are a ways off, and that he will be in school for some of the time, and that, as he gets older, he will become more and more independent. And I think of all the options we could have if we didn’t have to be home every afternoon, all the fun things we could do, all the places we could go.

I think that I caught a glimpse of the future, and I think that I’ll be okay.

Nothing tastes sweeter than the first ripe strawberries, washed with the hose.

O Happy Day! Who needs slides when you have heavy machinery?

I was going to write a letter to the city thanking these workers for going so far above and beyond the call of duty, but then Justin pointed out that they would probably get fired if anyone found out they were letting kids climb on the equipment or leaving it unlocked while they were at lunch. He has a point - considering the litigious state of our society. So I will trust that their good deeds will not go unnoticed.