So far, it’s only happened once. Once was enough. But it could well be an ongoing thing. At the time I had no idea what was going on. It was 3am. Ordinarily when Riley wakes up in the night she just trundles her way into our room, has a little help to get into our bed, snuggles up next to me, insists that I tuck her in nicely under the ‘noo-noo’ (doona) and nestles her way back to sleep. But on this night I could hear her crying and she …

To be clear the nap is not never-ending. But trying to find the right time to nap is. And it keeps changing. It’s hard to keep up. Given that napping at 1pm leads to bouncing on the toddler bed but very little sleep, I moved it until 2. But that seems to result in a very, very, grumpy munchkin when she wakes up. There are tears, barnacle-like clingyness and tantrums galore.
I’m not willing to give up on the nap entirely. That leads to a whole new level of grumpiness. Besides, …

I am extremely soft-hearted when it comes to Riley. I don’t think twice about her sharing our bed when she wants to, lying down with her if she needs company to go to sleep, reading her a story when I’m trying to get work done or cuddling her through a tantrum. It’s not always convenient, somtimes it’s even boring (I challenge you to sit in a dark room for over an hour and not get at least a little bored) and it can be tiring. But I wouldn’t have it …