Elijah and the Water Tower

I keep thinking that this post's title would be such a good title for a children's book... Eli is enamored with and "startled" (his word) by water towers. Here, in the South, they are everywhere. Whenever we are in the car he's looking for one. When he locates one he wants to get as close as we can to it so that he can try and see the bottom. Fortunately, Dendi and Bapa have a water tower in their subdivision that is easily approachable from a little dirt road. On September 24, Dendi, Eli, Keira and I walked out to see the water tower. Eli and Dendi had been there the day before and he wanted to go back so that I could see it. Interestingly, he's fascinated by the water towers, but up close he's scared of them. It took some persuading to get him close enough to take this picture. I guess, up close they are huge.




In other Elijah news, sleep has been a real issue lately. Two weeks ago, I thought I was going to pull my hair out. We had an entire week of relatively unsuccessful nap attempts. That Friday, I spent four hours trying to put him down for his nap. I hardly recognized myself or him. I was yelling, which I was feeling terrible about. And, he was being naughtier than I've ever seen him. I felt exhausted, drained and guilty each afternoon when Scott got home. Fortunately, after emailing back and forth with a good friend, and fellow mommy, (thanks Amy!) I came to the conclusion that he was probably starting to outgrow his naps. Thanks to a sleep book that I love, I came up with the idea of the Nap Walk.

Now, each day after lunch I put Keira in her Baby Bjorn and Eli in the stroller and we set out. Eli gets to choose our ultimate destination. So far, he's been alternating between Pebble Pocket Park, Jumping Bridge Park and Three Ponds Park. We are so lucky living in Peachtree City with all of the golf cart paths and parks. Within 5-10 minutes of getting in the stroller he's asleep. Then, I walk for about an hour and end up at his park of choice. It's been wonderful. I've been getting my exercise and some solitude in the trees and Eli's been getting a little nap. The best thing as far as Eli goes is that his behavior has improved dramatically. Now that we aren't having nap battles, our old relationship has returned. Thank God!!! At first, I was worried about Keira, but she seems to love it, too. She alternates between dozing and looking around. I nurse her right before we leave, and if we end up spending a good chunk of time playing at a park after he naps, then I nurse her again. Of course, the weather has been gorgeous lately, which has made the Nap Walk possible and pleasurable, and I may have to rethink it once the weather changes.