Well, if there was any doubt whether Reid was ready to give up her afternoon nap, this weekend put the answer firmly as “needs nap”. This is a good thing because the Day Nurseries Act requires a nap for all kids in daycare but since other people talked about their kids not napping after two, I wondered.
In any case, Reid’s 25-minute mini nap (not power nap, as it turned out) on Saturday set the stage for a perfect storm of a bad night out. I wasn’t worried because we planned to go to Morrisburg and figured Reid would sleep the hour-plus in the car on the way there. Well, she didn’t and so at the one hour mark, we stopped for her to use the potty and then forced our bored and tired kid back into her car seat. We were late getting to Upper Canada Village for our carefully planned supper and visit for “Alight at Night.” I sent Ken to buy tickets for the train while I got Reid into the stroller and went for the admission tickets. Reid has been strongly anti-footwear at home lately, not wanting socks or slippers on and usually waiting until we get to our destination to put on her boots. Well, she decided that boots were an affront to her dignity and kicked them off as fast as I could get them on. I knew she was tired and so was I since my nap was cancelled when hers was abbreviated and so I didn’t feel like it was a fair battle – not fair to either of us. When I finally prevailed, we started to the admissions booth only to be greeted by Ken who said that the line ups were long. We joined a line and I went in to buy Reid a hotdog and fries since we were going to miss our reservation completely. She turned down my offering without hesitation, like she had forgotten that hotdogs are one of her favourite foods. When she refused to put on her snow pants and flailed and yelled as I tried to do so without her cooperation (did I mention the long lines of people waiting to buy tickets with nothing else to look at), I told Ken that we should go to the car and try to get her to eat a bit and dress properly before trying the line. She still refused supper and her outdoor gear and so to give her (and me) a bit of time, I went to the bathroom. When I came back, she was still yelling, only now it was for me. She agreed to put her stuff on but balked when we tried to get her out of the stroller and onto the train. We headed back to the admissions line, which was longer even than the first time. After 20 minutes with a cranky girl, when she cried because the train went out of sight, I decided I’d best pull the plug on our adventure. I turned to Ken for his opinion but he wasn’t willing to comment since attending a Christmas lights display would never have been his choice and he didn’t want to be the Grinch. Reid cried out in a sad little voice, “ride train” a few times as we left but was asleep after only 15 minutes in the car, at 6:30. Reid woke only slightly when we got home and slept through til nearly 7:00 Sunday morning. Impressive for my point of view, was that she didn’t use the potty from 4:50 pm until 7:00 am. I definitely couldn’t go that long! So, my fascination with bathroom stories continues. :+)