Naptime can get tough as they outgrow it. We always made sure to say the kids simply had to stay in their beds, or even in their rooms, but not specifically enforce *sleep* (which is, you know, impossible). They usually dozed off anyway out of boredom, and at least I got a break.

Um.

Yeah, that's how it's coming to work in Castle Miracleborn.

Yesterday was pretty fun in regard to naptime. Em and I were chilling on the couch, having cleaned the house, and Em was getting obvious-naptime-cranky and I mentioned that it would be naptime for her in a few minutes.

"NNNOOOO!! I JUST NOT SLEEPY! NO! NEVER!"

Two minutes later: "Daddy! I wanna blanket!"

"Okay, punk."

Two minutes after that: "zzzzzzzzzzz"

So the 8-16 soft drinks a day I drank growing up might have been a bad thing?

It may have prepped you for an adulthood in which sleep is merely an option, not a requirement.

Prep for life in the theatre I guess. Should be an ad campaign for Dr. Pepper.

And yet, when I have a bad cold, I can guzzle orange juice by the VAT and not get wonky blood sugar. The rest of the time, though? If I have juice, I have to have it with a full meal, generally one with a decent fat content. Go figure.

See, this is so weird to me, but I'm looking at it as someone with diabetes.

Being sick itself raises my blood sugar (so does having my period, or any kind of strange stress on my body), so to me the above example is like, Whoa, insta-coma!

I used to get dangerously low blood sugars at first when adjusting my insulin during pregnancy, and my doctor always said, "If that happens, drink milk and eat some crackers with peanut butter." And I was like, at three in the morning when my blood sugar is 36 and I'm shaking and sweating? I'm drinking JUICE, yo. It's the only time I can!

Sickness does the same to me Amy. But no Insulin here, so it isn't quite so bad.

I have a coworker that is pregnant. She just went through a class and found out they want her to eat more grains. Turns out both her parents are diabetic - so she grew up eating a lot less grains than the average american. ( she also prefers vegetables to fruit)

I had SUCH a sweet tooth when I was pregnant. It was such a bizarre feeling for me, craving sugary stuff.

Oy, not looking forward to tonight. At least if he doesn't sleep he'll still be cute.

I don't use insulin now, beth. Only had to while pregnant. I take oral meds now.

oh, ok - so you had barely anytime to figure out how it worked. The extremes scare me.

Massive sleep-training vibes to Jess and Ethan, and tiredness-ma in abundance to Dylan.

Amy, I'm completely in awe of you for doing it and making it work. Zmayhem's method is more grim, sour endurance of our collective nightly purgatory and frequent reminders that nobody's kid ever went off to college unable to sleep for more than two hours without waking up screaming.

Ah, the Obesity Scare(TM): making "malnourished" the new "healthy."

Apropos of which, I now present to you a newspaper clipping from the 12/16/1932 edition of the San Francisco Chronicle, which I believe we can all agree is made of win:

We think more about candy during holiday time than we do ordinarily, but sweets are an important part of a child's diet at any time. children's systems demand the complete food contained in good candy. Sugar, cream, butter and chocolate are all body and bone builders and should not be omitted from the diet of a growing child. Every mother should see that each child has a large piece of candy a half hour after lunch and dinner. This will do much to stop between-meal nibbling and will supply the body with needed food. If underweight children are given a piece of candy and a glass of milk midmorning and midafternoon, the complete food of the two will tend to rapidly build up the child.

Sadly, the person who gave me this clipping is herself at the lowest end of "healthy weight for her height and build" and only permits herself one full meal a day.

My mom has tut-tutted that I give Matilda 2% milk because it sets a bad precedent; it's really actually 30% fat, and it sets such a bad precedent for later years! Sigh. I have finally managed, as politely as possible, to convince her to keep her (fat free angel food) cake hole away from the SALVATION THROUGH FAT HATRED megaphone where Matilda is concerned, but it's distressing.

we should encourage toddlers to drink low-fat milk (instead of whole, which is what's currently recommended). You know, because it's not like fats are necessary for brain development or anything.

Question - what if the kid is lactose-intolerant? Or does that not show up until after 2?