The development of Ruby’s sleep sign has been surprising: she’s now the one initiating bedtime and naptime. For the past month or so she’s been having a two-hour nap around 2pm, and then going to bed around 8pm. Yesterday, she signed for a nap at 9:30am and then slept for 2 hours. Then she signed for another nap at 2:30pm and slept for another two hours. And then she signed for an early bedtime at 7:30pm. Without her signing that it was naptime, we’d have pushed her into cranky-baby stage and then wondered what the hell was wrong.
Again this morning, she signed for a morning nap, although she didn’t seem particularly sleepy. I have a theory about this, though: since she turned 1, we’ve taken away Ruby’s pacifier. The only time she’s allowed to have it is when her diaper is being changed or when she’s going to sleep. So, my theory is that she’s deliberately signing for a nap just so that she can get some quality time in with her soother.