There are many wonderful things about nap time. Too many to list, really. While I'm tempted to say that the lazy quiet that washes over the house would top the list, if there were one, my favorite wonderful thing about nap time is that it's the best "reset" ever.
It's not just that the house volume is suddenly dialed down to "low" for a couple of hours, and that I can get a little work done. The opportunity to start the dinner prep or fold laundry (or, really, just sit on my butt with a cup of tea, the laptop, and the kitty) without a little three-foot shadow can be unbelievably refreshing.
What I appreciate as much as - if not quite more than - the time to myself is that the process of getting Westley up from nap is a chance to start the day over. Each nap time is like a mini bedtime, followed by a mini morning. This is especially important when the first half of the day, for whatever reason, didn't go so well. I can feel the negative-positive shift starting to take place in my body and my brain as I rock Westley in the glider and sing him to sleep. I've even been known to say, between songs, "We had a hard morning, West. But the afternoon will be better."
And usually, it is.
Westley's sleep is like my time machine. Naps mean I get a "do over" (almost) every day.
