Athletes need their sleep.
This was actually an abandoned ball that William found by the lake while walking with my father…and my Dad actually let him bring the nasty thing home. William was very attached to it, unfortunately. You see here that it shared status with Blue Puppy and, as such, briefly became a nap companion.
As soon as he was awake, though, we “disappeared” it. Dan thought it smelled like celery and, folks, that can’t be good.
DJ William
My overall impression here is that William was like a DJ – playing the keyboard, spinning the gears and also operating that creepy little chiming-flower toy…all while destroying his racetrack in the background. And then it became too much for him and he wrapped himself up like a burrito (instead of eating a late-night one at a food cart) and conked out. I especially like the sympathetic expression on the purple flower.
It reminds me of how I started to feel about late night clubbing in New York by roughly 2002. He’s getting old. The puppies are old, too.
One of the most romantic things my husband ever did was secretly sell his motorcycle to fund my engagement ring. Well…mostly. The other part of the ring was funded by secret lottery winnings, which I only discovered during tax time when it showed up under “gambling.” You can imagine my temporary distress! But it all came out in the end.
I must say, however, that I do not wish my husband to ride a motorcycle again, nor do I think my sons should do it. This is a perfect example of what happens when you recklessly motor your plastic Ducati over a stray pipecleaner. You end up napping on the floor, people, and what kind of crazy person does that?
Always wear a helmet while napping
I’m sure I will soon be able to convince William to sell his Ducati to buy a tiara for the girl next door. Who needs it!
Weekend Warrior
We all know that feeling. The weekend is supposed to refresh, but we meet Monday feeling drained by chores, sports activities, and socializing. I see evidence of the sports here…and perhaps the socializing (poor bunny) but where is the chore part?
It’s a genuine pleasure to be one of the first to share this future Olympian of the Napping Games with you.
Leah at Chapter Four was generous enough to mail me this pair of inspiring snoozes. My favorite is the first one, in which this child apparently started the nap on the other side of his sister.
Naps Travel
As an expert napalyzer, I can’t help but notice extra-awesome details like the drool on the couch and the desperate chicken (duck?) who appears to be buried nearby under a pillow. You can’t escape the feeling that something very dramatic happened here while Mom was gone. Was he trying to save the bird and ended up overcome by exhaustion?
Like one super nap wasn’t enough, Leah also shared this one, which reminds me of many of William’s “incidents.”
Conquered By the Rat Race
It seems this boy was shopping at MOMA, came home, and collapsed upon seeing tomorrow’s schedule in his planner.
Should we wake him for his meeting?
Do you think the people at his 8 am conference will notice the spiral mark on his face?
Thanks, Leah!
Guess what time it is?
Well, according to Telly the Teaching Time Clock, it is TIME FOR A NAP! Even if you are under the kitchen table. William isn’t about to mess with Telly. That clock is bossy, I’ll Tell You What.
Party like the birthday boy...
Today is my birthday, and it’s chock full of adult commitments that have zero fun factor.
What I really wish is that I could party so hard that I ended up looking like this. William parties like this often. As you have all seen.
The untroubled sleep of youth
Here’s to another year of working hard and playing hard.
So I logged on this morning and noticed an unusual amount of traffic on Naps Happen. I knew something was up.
I won WHAT????
It turns out that my fellow blogger Brenna over at Suburban Snapshots deemed me worthy of the Versatile Blogger Award. I feel undeserving of this prize, since it is William and his napping style that are really versatile – not me. But I had so much fun following the links to see who gave it to Brenna, and then who gave it to Ninja Mom, who was the one who gave it to Brenna, and so on and so forth. I became determined not to drop the ball.
So I apologize if you have come here expecting a good toddler nap and, instead, found a very awake, caffeinated, exhausted Mom (desperately in need of a refill on her imitrex). But I have to fulfill the obligations of the Versatile Blogger Award and do what small thing I can to keep it going.
There are two basic rules – you have to pay this award forward to as many as 15 other bloggers, and you have to share 7 as-yet undisclosed details about yourself. I can’t tag 15 bloggers because I’m a newbie. But I can tell you 7 things about myself (that’s the rule) that some of you may not know. At least if you haven’t already been trapped on Facebook with me for four years.
Seven Strange Details About William’s Mom
1. I fell down a manhole in Omaha, NE at age 11. One leg stayed out, so I escaped serious injury – but you people should think twice about stepping on manholes.
2. I spent a good part of my twenties singing pop rock a cappella semi-professionally in New York City. Don’t laugh yet, because you’ll miss the fact that this makes it very easy to find pictures of me wearing silver sequined pants (now you can laugh).
3. As a child, I maintained a rotation chart for my stuffed animals to ensure that they had an equal chance to sleep with me. I emphasize that this early behavior indicated that I was Type-A and not something seedier.
4. I once had a letter published in Glamour magazine – it was about how I accidentally ate my boss’s sandwich on my first day working at the Pentagon. This was a true story. (Brenna is much cooler with her letter to Rolling Stone)
5. I had to drop out of lifeguard training as a teen because I couldn’t (and cannot) open my eyes under water. This inability is probably what caused me to hit my head on the bottom of the pool at age 8 and scrape the hair off the top of my head.
6. I am actually a very light sleeper. William gets his napping genes from his father.
7. I was once one of the automated voices that said people’s names on the Bloomberg voicemail.
And now to share some of that love that Brenna shared with me. I bestow the Versatile Blogger Award on these other parenting-related blogs:
2. Let Me Start By Saying (even though Brenna tagged her first)
and because wine is also deeply parenting-related, I’m giving it, enthusiastically, to this guy:
3. Wineguider
I’m too new at this to be able to share more, but I love these blogs and hope my FB crowd will, too. I have been privileged to see so many new visitors here today!
And I promise to post a new nap tomorrow, for those of you who are just here to get some sleep, already.
-Alicia
Rock 'n Roll lifestyle catches up...
I don’t have to say much here, except that I have felt this way in the office on many a Monday, folks. In this case, the weekday stresses of operating his ceiling fan remote were just too much for him. Coffee, anyone?
One day, I heard William’s talking Little Einstein doll get stuck on repeat, and I knew that a nap was happening. What I didn’t anticipate was the excellent location.
A real cliffhanger...
Please spare me the shock that I allowed my son to sleep on the steps. I immediately went to the bottom and piled couch cushions on the floor in case of a mid-dream upset.
Then I callously took this picture of the trapped doll.
Help! Help!
…who was basically screaming in William’s ear, to no avail.
I left William to his snoozes. A little while later, the doll gave up the ghost. I looked again and saw William sitting up on the bottom step, looking bleary-eyed.
I walked away.
A few moments later, I saw this:
Second Wind
He slept peacefully for hours. So, finally, did the doll.
It's not as bad as it looks...
I know – it looks like something exploded in our house, throwing William, senseless, on top of Bunny. Not so, obviously. He just exhausted himself moving couch cushions and rudely collapsed on one of his best friends again. Poor Bunny. Always breaking the fall of the ungrateful boy. If you look closely, you can see Blue Puppy sprawled under the wreckage.
Don't Squash Your Friends
I didn’t have any pictures of William napping among pumpkins, so I found one of him with a squash…of the Blue Puppy variety. Blue Puppy squash is very popular around here – in every season.
Sunday is for fans...
Living about 2 miles from Redskins training camp, you see a lot of dogged fans. They persevere. They remain ever-hopeful.
William loves fans…of the mechanical kind. Here you see how he fell asleep in front of his brother’s nursery box fan, with the remotes of the two children’s ceiling fans arrayed carefully in front of him. Being such a dedicated fan can be really exhausting.
Ask Virginia. Happy football watching!
Weekend Warrior
William definitely doesn’t let napping interrupt his enjoyment of sports and exercise. Perhaps he’s playing dodgeball in his dreams. Or…I guess that would be a nightmare.
Just a soft place to rest my head...
Awwww, so the kid curled up with his puppies on the floor of his room and he even has a blanket. It’s really almost like a bed, right? What’s the big deal?
The angle is everything here, though…
"I feel like there's a hammer on my head!"
and if sleeping with your head on a hammering pegboard doesn’t give you a headache, it’s certain, at very least, to give you a massive crick in the neck!
Now use head for something other than target.
-Mr. Miyagi
Head down...
I certainly felt like this at 5:30am when the alarm clock went off. The nice thing about being three-years-old is that you get to stay this way. No five minute snooze disappointment. No coffee fetching. Just as much sleep as you want. Lucky dog(s).
It’s nearly Friday!
Taking refuge from the day...
Everyone has that day of the week they just dread. For me, it happens to be Wednesday. I almost didn’t have time to do a nap post at all (crammed in among the dentist, the flu shot, the child swimming lesson, the other appointment, and my class tonight) but here it is! I’m sure this will be me by 11pm tonight…when I finally get home.
As Pollyanna might say, “I’m glad, because it’s a whole week until Wednesday comes ’round again!”
Unwilling to leave summer behind...
What better way to shed a tear for summer’s passing than to indulge in a reverent slumber underneath the grill? William assures me that one awakens refreshed and dreaming of Bratwurst. Puppy, too.
Mondays are tough.
I have often had the desire to nod off at my computer, but at least I wait until I get to work. Apparently, just watching his father code is exhausting enough. No personal exertion was required. I feel the same way, buddy.
This is certainly not William’s most ludicrous or uncomfortable nap, although the upright lean in the chair is not your average comfy position. But it was such a sweet little snooze that I thought it was entirely appropriate for a lazy Sunday. I promise a more awkward nap to spice up Monday.
Bunny attempts to hide the fashion "fail"
As those first crisp October days dawn, demanding that we delightedly dust off our cozy cold-weather clothes, it is important to review fashion rules about mixing plaids…or not mixing them. Blue Puppy was too busy catching drool to help out with the fashion faux pas here, but Bunny tried desperately to cover the evidence of bad plaid.
Wild nights...
Since it’s a crazy Friday night of online chat (that’s what’s cool, right? right?) I thought I’d salute you all with what looks like a photo from college. Didn’t most of us wake up at some strange angle in our dorm room beds at some point and say “how did that _______________ get here?” And I’m sure it wasn’t a vacuum cleaner attachment. I think we can expect squeaky clean behavior from William as he grows up.
Have a great night!
Bigger than the cat.
I know it’s Friday and you’re tired, but you have to bear with me while I explain these two pictures.
William loves his Daddy. He doesn’t like being left behind. On several occasions, he tried to follow Dan on errands by squeezing himself through the cat door. One such occasion captured on Dad’s cell phone above.
Of course, his melon is way too big to fit through the cat door (we have a small cat). The result is that he would wail until he exhausted himself like so (see below), as captured by mom’s digital camera in the aftermath of a separate, identical incident.
Didn't make it out...
Unfortunately, puppy didn’t escape through the cat door in time, either.
May you all make your Friday escape more successfully!
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Thanks, Brenna! Click on the award to see her blog...
Thanks to Allison for this award! Click on the image to visit her very funny blog.
Naps Happen 