Eleven minutes is not a nap!

After a long break, we have officially restarted nap training.  Sleep training.  Crib training?  I mean I’m working on getting Jack to nap in the crib.  We were working on it months ago, but I gave it up when the teething started in earnest and nighttime sleep was being disrupted.  For however many months that’s been (maybe two?), Jack has been napping semi-well, but exclusively while being held (mostly by me) or in the car seat (stroller and car).  The advantage of the car seat is that I can usually bring the car seat in from outside without waking Jack up, and he can sleep in it, in the house, and let me do other things.  But wouldn’t it be nice if he would just sleep in the crib?  I’m starting (restarting) now for a couple of reasons:

1. He’s going to grow out of the car seat.  I’ve been talking about it for months, and he hasn’t done it yet, but it’s inevitable, and I feel like it’ll be soon. We’ll have to replace the infant car seat, which can be carried around, with a convertible car seat, which is one of those that will last for years but which doesn’t leave the car.  What if (WHEN) he falls asleep in the car in the new car seat?  I will have to unbuckle him, carry him inside, and put him down without waking him up.  So far, he hasn’t proven to be that sound of a sleeper.  Same for sitting in the stroller without the car seat.  So he needs to learn to nap in the crib.
2. Teething’s not over, of course, but his second top tooth has broken through and we have a pretty good routine at bedtime.  He sleeps pretty well in the crib, mostly through the night, so I’m not too worried that these attempts to nap in the crib during the day will screw that up.

I just want the flexibility.  We’re at home at naptime?  Sleep in the crib!  We’re on a walk and he gets sleepy?  Sleep in the stroller!  We’re in the car?  Sleep in the car!  And if he’ll really nap in the crib, I can get work done during the day.  Probably not the full four hours, but it means I won’t have to stay up as late EVERY SINGLE NIGHT.

The worst thing about this is the crying, of course.  I’ve tried all kinds of things, read all kinds of books, and I really don’t know how to make this work without any crying.  Thankfully, today, new attempt #1, he only cried for a couple of minutes.  Then he tossed and turned but quietly, and he was sleeping 6 minutes later.  Of course, as I type this, I can see (and hear) him kicking the back of the crib, but I’m pretty sure he’s still sleeping.  Weird kid.  He wiggled around a ton during those first few minutes, so I can’t see his face in the monitor anymore.

Shoot, I think I jinxed it.  He’s definitely awake.  Eleven minutes isn’t enough!

Update: Attempt #2 is going well so far.  He stayed asleep when I put him in the crib, and he’s been asleep for 14 minutes.