It's DEFINITELY a Kind of Magic

I love Eme, but that doesn't mean that every day is a picnic.

There are some days, however, when I am convinced that Mommy Magic is a very real, very powerful force.

Of course, while I'm calling it Mommy Magic, it's not exclusive to mommies. It's that thing where you (whether you're a mommy, daddy, grandparent, aunt, uncle, and/or primary caregiver) know the child so well, that you can help bring them around to where you need them to be through the exact right mix of cajolery and responsiveness. When it works, it feels magical.

Examples: sometimes she doesn't want to put her coat on, but I magically come up with a way to get her to do it herself without a fight. Once in a while, I'm the only one who can convince her to let us buckle her into her car seat. And today, I magicked her into taking a nap.

Eme has recently stopped taking naps. The good part of this is that she goes to bed an hour and a half earlier, and pretty much gets the same amount of sleep as before. The down side is that I don't get a break in my day, which can be a little bit wearing.

Today she woke up an hour early. Both she and I were yawning by 11am. We were planning to attend a family party tonight, and I knew that we'd end up leaving early (and possibly in tears) if she didn't get a nap.

I convinced her to lay down next to me after lunch. I talked, told stories, cajoled, and after a struggle of wills to get her to stop jumping around, convinced her to close her eyes, at which point she was asleep within minutes. Me too.

The fact that both Eme and I got a 2-hour nap was real magic.

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