If you don't know by now, Iliya is a creature of habit and routine. He thrives in an environment where time - time to eat, time to sleep, etc. - is structured - while allowing for him to march to the beat of his own drummer. He's the perfect for our family - we are very routine-oriented...but we encourage him to listen to that inner drummer.

But I digress before I even start!

Iliya has been having an intermittent struggle with naptime at school. You may remember me mentioning this, back when Nathan was gone to Tennessee. I think that his naptime struggles come when there is any sort of break in his routine. The latest struggle began last week, when I was sick for a couple days, and Iliya wasn't able to have as much "mommy time" as he usually might. And this week, things were GREAT until he fell off (or perhaps fell as he was getting out of) his bed very early on Thursday morning. Yesterday's naptime was not the best.

Anyway, these naptime struggles include hopping off his cot, yelling loudly, sometimes crying, getting up and running around, throwing his stuffed animals onto other kids' cots...you name it. If it's disruptive, he's probably done it. And the effect is typically of the domino variety. He wakes up another child, who wakes up another child, who....you get the idea.

He takes his Cat in the Hat and Doggie to school to sleep with...he has shown us all that he is able to lay quietly with them, even play with them quietly. Typically, he even falls asleep with them. So he starts out with them in his possession, but if he gets crazy or loud, then he has to put them back in his bag. He loves to be held by his teacher, following the nap period...and if he has been non-disruptive, then she will hold him for a few minutes, as a sort of reward good behavior.

Nathan and I also talk to him at home, we make sure to tell him that he needs to lay quietly at naptime so that his friends can sleep. We do not expect him to sleep (though, knowing that he is a creature of routine...and that his biological rhythm depends on taking a nap, I actually do expect him to sleep, and if he doesn't sleep, then it totally messes up the rest of his day and night.....but we don't tell him he HAS to sleep. Because who can will themselves asleep? but I digress...again!)....what we do expect him to do is be quiet. We tell him that he does need to stay on his cot and rest at naptime. We have found that if that is one of the last things we talk to him about at drop off, then the likelihood of him being quiet is much higher than if we say something about it first thing in the morning.

Nathan has a higher success rate at talking to Iliya about all of this, perhaps because he is usually so laid back that when he puts on his stern face, Iliya knows to listen.

So moving on...

This morning, at breakfast, here is an exchange that took place between me & Iliya:

Me: Iliya, you are going to have a good day! I just know it!

Iliya: Yep! No hitting my friends.

Me: That's right. You're going to use your gentle hands...aaannnd...remember, at naptime, that's a time to be quiet so your friends can sleep, right?

I: Yes! And I will have my cat in the hat and my doggie.

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And when Nathan dropped Iliya off at school this morning...

Nathan: I love you, buddy. I hope you have a good day!

Iliya: I love you, too.

Nathan: Oh.. and remember -

Iliya (interrupting): I know. Mommy already told me.