Nap Time Shenanigans

I've had to reevaluate and modify my list of what-to-dos after Charlotte wakes up from a nap (or first thing in the morning) several times. When she was in the crib, she would just roll around and talk to her stuffed animals until I came to get her. When we moved last summer and she got her twin bed, I also installed video cameras in both girls' bedrooms. I could keep an eye on Charlotte in her room while I was rocking Natalie in hers, and I could keep an eye on everybody while I did my thing downstairs. Best investment!!

She started off just hanging out in her bed until I'd come to get her. Somewhere along the line she started getting out of her bed to get books or toys to play with until I got her. That became too noisy (the girls' rooms share a thin wall) and I had to limit her to one book and stuffed animals in bed. Then she ventured out once to use the bathroom before I went to her room and that became the norm. I don't mind her going to the bathroom, but asked that she go back to her room afterwards and wait for me. Last week she decided to sit on the edge of the tub and bang her heals into its side (bathroom across from Natalie's room, waking her from her nap early), so we went back to a sit-in-your bed mode.

I was keeping an eye on the video monitor today as I caught up on my stories folded laundry downstairs and saw Charlotte get up, turn on her light, I heard her little feet running down the hallway to the bathroom, and then quiet. Quiet. Typically a parent of a preschooler dreads quiet. Quiet means they're up to something.

Just as I was about to see what she was doing, I heard the stair creak. That 5th stair - the one I avoid like the plague as I'm tiptoeing downstairs after putting the kids to bed. It's a loud creak! And then I hear the whisper of "Oops!" Hahaha! After a minute or two she started whispering "Mommy....? Mommmmmy...???" and I'm giggling to myself because I remember doing pretty much the exact same thing when I was just a little older than she is - - sneaking around trying to ask Mom if it was okay to get up yet.

Then she sneezed. And said, "Uh oh!!" LOL

Of course that was too cute to stay quiet through and I started laughing and went over to the stairs to find her sitting very nicely, grinning ear-to-ear. If only the mischief she gets herself into would stay this sweet and innocent forever!!