This one is actually from yesterday ("yeterday" in Melanie-speak).

To preface this, nap time is probably the most difficult time of the day with Melanie. At least every other day she doesn't want to take a nap, and will fight it every step of the way. But she needs a nap, and we need a break. So we're always trying to encourage it and trying our best to convince her of the benefits of nap time.

All weekend, Melanie had been looking forward to her friend Emily coming over for dinner. But Emily and her parents weren't coming over unitl dinner last night. What to do? We kept telling her that Emily would come over "after nap". Two birds, one stone right? Well, maybe it worked too well. At eleven o'clock in the morning we found Melanie in her crib (yes, she can climb in by herself!) -- a good three hours before nap time! We had to get her out and start convincing her that she wanted to eat lunch first and say goodbye to Tracy and Marc (who were visiting) before nap. Then come nap time, we had to convince her to take a nap all over again. Oy!

But she did nap. And Emily and her folks did come over and everyone had a great time.