Before I forget...

After picking up the boys from school today, I had to immediately send Hudson to his room for whining and complaining. A minute later, Jake joined him for screaming...a daily occurrence around here that I had hoped would end after his 3^rd birthday, but not so much. Poor little guy has had more spankings this year than the others combined. He has quite the little temper and wants to be in control all. the. time. Anyway, as I was passing their door a few minutes later, Hudson calls out, “We're having the time of our life in here!!”

Next time I'll know better than to put them both in the same room. :)

So nap time is pretty much nonexistent around here. Except for Oliver. By the time we get home from school and eat lunch it's 2 pm. Then the backyard is calling out for some boys to play out there or the front sidewalks are screaming for some bike riders, and then there's homework. That doesn't leave much time for any kind of rest/quiet/nap time. Jake has refused to take a nap for at least the past 6 months. The thought of being separated from his brothers is just unthinkable for him. And it's just not possible for me to enforce it by laying down with him for 45 minutes every day until he falls asleep. It's a trade off really. If he does fall asleep for a nap, then he's wide awake at 7:30 when we're trying to settle everyone down for bed. However, with him skipping naps, 5-10 minutes into me reading “These Happy Golden Years,” he is out.

But still I do try to enforce some rest time at least a couple of times a week. Selfishly for my own sanity. At least 45 minutes of them reading in their beds. Quietly.

Today, however, the boys had other plans. While they were in the backyard playing after lunch,they created their own science museum, which they hoped would convince me to allow them toskip their rest time today. I was pretty impressed. They first had the sign up desk where Nate made me sign my name and where I was given a map of the museum. They made a pyramid out of some planks of wood Brian had out in the yard from old (and for future) projects. They then led me to the science lab (their fort) where they each had a different artifact to show me...a big rock, a broken piece of pottery, an old jar lid, etc.

I gave into their creativity and told them they could skip rest time as long as they stayed in the backyard, while Oliver was sleeping. (a compromise we often agree on). But amazingly, they all trickled in about 15 minutes later and are now quietly reading in their beds. This is a first...to choose rest time over play!

Peace and quiet is a rare jewel around here.

I'm going to go and enjoy it...