Wearing them out!

Hello Blog readers! Long time no see! I've been busy and lazy lately which is a wicked combination!

Layla has recently decided that only babies nap. She turned 3 in December and therefore has decided that she is NOT a baby and will NOT nap. An issue that wouldn't bother me as a working mom but kills me when I pick her up and she's tired. Tired in a 3 year old translates to whiney and rude. And since my 6 year old has decided that stomping her feet and screaming at me is going to earn her extra play time, my afternoons are just as soothing as they can be.

So I have a new plan. I can't control the weekdays since I don't have her but the weekends - oh boy, I'm going to wear her out on the weekends! On Sat we spent 4 hours walking around the zoo. Our friend had a stroller. Did I let Layla rest a bit in the stroller? Nope. She was walking. Now, I'm no tyrant and did occasionally carry her or put her up on my shoulders but not for long. The Altanta Zoo has 2 playgrounds. We let the kids run around on both. Now it amazes me that Layla is "too tired" to walk from the otters to the pandas but show her a playground and suddenly she's Usain Bolt. (you know, that dude from the Olympics? The fast one. Right. Him) Ten minutes into the ride home and she was conked out. I dumped her on the living room couch, not risking a walk upstairs and had a peaceful hour and a half to read. It was amazing! On Sunday, the only active thing we did was go to the grocery store and she was still so worn out from Sat that she fell asleep watching cartoon at her Papa's house. Thank goodness for the family pass b/c now whenever I have a good book to read, we're going to the zoo first!