Why Elayna can never be alone again….

I thought 3-year olds were suppose to be easier….

Along with her crazy ideas, strong desire to do everything herself, and slightly-annoying bossy attitude, Elayna is also growing out of her naps.  This is causing no small amount of heart-burn and confusion for mom – particularly since I love naps.

At school, Elayna is still taking a 1-2 hour nap each day.  On these days, she stays awake at night until 10pm – annoying and strange.  But also annoying are the days she stays home and refuses to nap and has instead decided to occupy herself with new hobbies.

I’ve instituted a new rule that Elayna doesn’t have to sleep but she does need to rest in her room and be quiet.  Quickly she has learned that as long as she quiet, mom has no idea what she is doing and the sky’s the limit of her imagination.

Last weekend, Elayna scooped aquarium rocks from her fish-tank while Alicia was watching her.  I’m sure this was very tramatic for her fish and not fun for mom to vacuum up.  Two weeks ago, she decided to chew on pages out of her new kids bible (gross – what gave her that idea?).  And it’s very common to find clothes out of drawers, toys amuck, and the room trashed.

Today, I was delighted to peek in and find her quietly reading her Dr Seuss book.  Forty-five minutes later, I let her get up and discovered the carnage…

For some reason, the book and toy required large amounts of sun-screen.  And when she finally realized that a little sunscreen goes a long way, she cleaned it up with the majority of a pack of wipes.  The evidence was stuffed in her bed, the book shelf, and under stuffed animals.

<Sigh>  I’m not looking forward to the around-the-clock surveillance.