Archives for December 2005

Last night, at approximately 8:45pm, my husband Aaron completed the NaNoWriMo challenge and finished his first novel! On November 1, after reading about the challenge, he decided to try writing something longer than a character sheet for an RPG. He had an idea that he had been pondering for awhile, so he set his mind to writing that story. And while the challenge asks for 50,000 words (which he hit before Thanksgiving), his word count is somewhere close to 80K.

Some of our friends have been reading it while he wrote it, and are very impressed with the work. It’s kind of a cross between a superhero novel and Call of Cthulhu. The next step is for him to edit it, then pass it off to a friend to edit. This friend is working on his Master’s degree in English (creative writing), so he should be a good editor. After that, it’s off to be submitted to publishers. I’m excited about all the possibilities for him: his current job is beyond awful, so this gives him a creative outlet and lets him find some happiness in work. Oh, and this is only the first of a trilogy for him.

Now, if they only had a NaNoReadMo challenge. Then I could claim to be a winner as well – it’s the first novel I’ve managed to read in only a month since becoming a mother!

Congrats, dear! You did it!

It’s approximately 1pm here, and Cordy is currently awake, having just finished lunch, and is watching the Wiggles, enraptured. There has been no nap yet.

Cordy has never been big on naps. Once she finally worked out a night sleep schedule around 5-6 months, we tried to establish a nap schedule as well. At home, we were lucky to get 2-3 naps out of her. When she was in daycare, they would often tell us as we walked in “She only took one 15 minute nap all day – we really think your child is a mutant, because babies this age should sleep more.” This statement was repeated often, with more and more frustration in their voices as the months went on. We often refer to her condition as “afraid she’ll fall asleep and miss the pony rides.”

Around her first birthday, she decided that 2 30-minute naps were too much trouble (because, after all, a toddler has places to go and things to see!), and she dropped the afternoon nap. Luckily, this lengthened the one nap to 45 min. or even an hour! A friend of mine told me last week that her son also only takes one nap a day – a 3 hour nap. The envy coming from me had to be visable.

But today, we’ve had two aborted nap attempts, and she is showing no signs of slowing. I wish I could explain to her that while she may not need the downtime, I need it. It’s my one break for the day – one of the few “me” benefits I still have in mommyhood. A chance to recharge and rest and not be on duty. A nap makes her a happier child and me a much happier and tolerant mommy.

UPDATE(3:10pm):
I finally convinced her she was tired and Cordy took a 35 minute nap. It’s not a long break, but wow did it help both of us.

What happens when you leave a toddler visually unsupervised near a box of tissues for 5 minutes?

This: