Quiet Time

We are trying something new these days, and I haven't completely worked out the details but the idea is this:
1. Jane seems to be losing her afternoon nap (not that she really took it regularly in the first place) but there are days that she seems to need it and days that she doesn't.
2. Jane is getting really loud in Sacrament meeting. And since both Eric and I are in Primary, we'd really like to both have "adult church" every week, too.

So here's our two-fold solution. Or our attempt. We've decided to teach Jane the concept of "quiet" and rest via Quiet Time, instead of an afternoon nap, that way, when she loses her morning nap and needs an afternoon nap as a toddler, we'll already have that built into the routine. This way, if she is more tired one afternoon, she can take a nap.

Like I said, we're still tweaking it, but the basic idea is this:
1. lights off, night light on (usually her room is as dark as we can get it for naps_.
2. soft music playing
3. a few board books in her crib
4. encouraging her to lie down while she looks at her books, I want her to get in the habit of resting her body, even if she doesn't fall asleep.
5. saying "shhh, it's quiet time" and speaking in whispers.
6. gradually facing mom or dad out of Quiet Time. We've gone in with her the last few times b/c its a new thing and she's usually so traumatized by afternoon naps, anyway. Of the three times we've given it a whirl, she's fallen asleep once, which is better than her usual afternoon napping average (granted, very small sample size ;-)

My sister does quiet time with her kids, she's got 4, the oldest is 8, and she said it has frequently saved her. And especially in this busy world, I want my kids to be able to slow down.

So that's that, we'll see how it actually pans out ;-)