sleep strike

Like photographing an elusive big cat in the wild, these pictures show Elias enjoying an epic nap about a month ago, when he was recovering from the first leg of a two-part ear infection.  Sadly, it seems Elias has to be drugged in order to get in a good afternoon nap these days, which shouldn't really be surprising, I guess (just incredibly frustrating), from the baby who fought multiple daytime naps as early as five months.  When he transitioned from two naps to one shortly after our move back to California last summer he seemed to finally hit his nap stride, becoming the champion of the two to three-hour afternoon siesta.  You can't help but get used to that kind of thing. 

As I expected they would the afternoon naps have shortened in duration over the past eight months and he still throws a curve ball my way once every few weeks, refusing to nap altogether, but for the most part, so long as I put him down by about 1:15, I can usually get at least an hour of afternoon quiet time.  Even when he refuses to nap lately, there's usually some explanation: a catnap in the car on the way home for lunch, a diaper situation that prevents him from falling asleep in time, missing that magical nap window, etc.  But in the past week or so, he's only taken one solid nap at home (he still seems to do pretty well at daycare - a bad nap day is when she only gets about an hour out of him).  This troubles me, for starters, because he's so young.  I don't expect this kid to nap past the age of three when even the sleepiest of toddlers begin to throw in a no-nap day from time to time. But he's not even two yet!  Secondly, if his night sleep were golden, I'd be a little more understanding (funny how sleep and patience go hand in hand like that).  He takes forever to fall asleep most nights, babbling sometimes a full hour and a half after we put him down, cries out at least once a night most nights (not always requiring a parental visit but always waking me up), and waking up before 6 a.m.  So he's only getting about 9-10 hours of sleep.  Total.  That can't be good. For anyone.