To Sleep Or Not To Sleep

Our sleep/play schedule has been a little off the past couple weeks.  Baby A's learning spurt has also been on the rise (kinda like a growth spurt).  Soo....the few (albeit long) naps we've had have been few and far between...  And with the move, needless to say, I crave every nap she can get in.  Usually, Baby A absolutely HAS to nurse to sleep.  This afternoon, however, I was getting slightly annoyed at her new game of nursing, then crawling around and playing, like she's not tired at all.  There have been a couple previous times I have tried to escape before she falls asleep (to no avail).  Today, I tried it again, and surprisingly it worked!  I walked around the house for about 10 minutes and didn't hear a peep.  I was actually a little worried, so I checked on her, and she was passed out.  :-)

Because of her 2+ hour nap, it took her a little while to start showing signs it was time for bed.  Unfortunately, not even the bedtime routine could make her calm down.  She resisted sleep until around 1030.....(normal bedtime is around 730).  At one point I tried the same method of leaving her to fall asleep on her own.  It didn't work the second time...  In fact, she was actually a bit more clingy than normal, finally falling asleep drooped across my stomach.

I don't really understand what the difference was, as she seemed content for me to leave at nap time.  Maybe she senses that naps are quite short, where bedtime goes for a while.  Or maybe she's becoming afraid of the dark? (Except it wasn't quite dark out when I left the room.)

Who knows.  One day she will be secure enough to fall asleep like a big girl.  Until then, I'm content to have extended downtime with her (even if it's boring or annoying).