Thursday, April 21, 2011

Remarkable Phenomenon

Ah, quiet time.  It's really not meant for a 2-year-old, I don't think.  She is still just scary enough that I'm afraid to leave her unsupervised, but I need that break.  She got close to climbing out of her crib one too many times, so she's on the floor now with the whole room at her fingertips...including the built-in shelving unit with cabinets full of toys.  So far, she hasn't started pulling everything out or climbing the shelves, but I know it's just a matter of time.

I will say that she is doing well with quiet time.  She is no more cranky in the afternoon than she is in the morning, so I can't blame her defiance on no nap.  She's just two.

The one thing I have noticed that changes after quiet time is her volume.  It's rather remarkable.  When her timer starts beeping at the end of quiet time, she begins yelling, "Mommy!  My timer!  Come!  It's beeping! Come get me!  Mommy!"  And her volume remains at that level for hours.  It's as if she's afraid to be quiet again lest she fall asleep.

She did this a few days ago when we were at the store with Daddy.  We could not get her to be quiet for all the threats in our kingdom.  Nor for all the consequences at our disposal.  She just could not use her inside voice.  The more tired (tireder?) she gets, the louder she gets.  I suppose we're using all of our "quiet" during that one hour of the day and it's too much to ask to save some for later.  I'll take that trade-off, though, and keep repeating my daily mantra, "Turn your volume down.  Turn your volume down."

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