In Which We Hoodwink the Fabertids

Up until about a month ago, the twins were taking naps in the morning and in the afternoon. Their morning nap lasted about an hour to an hour and a half. Their afternoon nap lasted about two-and-a-half to three hours. Awesome, right? But of course they eventually stopped sleeping during their morning nap. This was a bit of a bummer, because it was really nice having that hour in the morning to read the news, drink some coffee, and get ready for the day. So when they stopped sleeping in the morning, we decided we'd try to convert that hour to independent playtime. I was skeptical that they'd go for it. But it worked! It worked! It was amazing!

What we did was we hyped morning playtime like some kind of exclusive party. They could pick out whatever toys they wanted to play with and do whatever they wanted for an hour. (A person with developed reasoning skills would say, "Wait, we get to do whatever we want all day anyway." But these guys are babies. Babies! Which means that fooling them is like taking candy...Okay, no. I'm not really gonna say that.) They particularly dig toys that make noise, like drums and rattles and stuff. We put on some fun music for them and got them to dance to it a little bit in their cribs. Basically, we did whatever we could think of to get them really amped up about morning playtime. Playing alone? In their cribs? It was going to be THE MOST FUN THING EVER!

The first day, they were a little confused and fussy. The second day a little less so. By the third day, they were starting to get into it. Now when we go into their rooms for morning playtime, they actually ask to be put into their cribs. It's awesome. As I type this, they are drumming along to Coldplay and chattering happily in their beds. I am drinking a lovely dark roast with my feet up in the living room.

Score one for Team Parents.