we've just graduated from the napping stage to the independent stage in parenting.

last week, we had a sleeping strike at the smith household. believe me, kenny and i were NOT the ones on the picket lines! rowan decided to fight bedtime, and two nights of him fighting us (and...ahem...getting his way...) sawyer decided to join him with a rousing rendition of Screaming Before Bedtime. then they were waking at night crying...fighting naps.... sleep was not happening.

to fix this problem, we decided that rowan no longer needed an afternoon nap. so we put sawyer down alone at naptime last week and he screamed. he was so used to having rowan in the room with him that he couldn't bear the thought of sleeping without him.

our older boys are great at falling asleep on their own, in their own beds, in their own rooms. but it seems they need each other to do so. now, rowan hangs out with sawyer until he's asleep and then he joins me downstairs for rowan-and-mama time.

the bliss of an afternoon nap (when all three boys are sleeping at the same time!) is long gone. but now i get to teach rowan how to read quietly alone, or i get to have book time with him alone if adam has decided to sleep when sawyer does. right now, he's playing with my hair as i type this out (and trying to feed me his milk). we just made a pumpkin pie together. and now he'll help me fold laundry.

it's kind of nice having a little helper around (and especially one who plays with my hair!).