‘Sno Time Like the Quiet

I love “quiet time.” In our house, “quiet time” is code for “nap time.” Early on, it seemed our kids responded better to “quiet time” rather than “nap time,” though they almost always ended up napping. It’s just something about telling them that they don’t have to go to sleep as long as they play quietly in their rooms that makes the whole situation better.
Wonder Boy’s quiet time is always a nap and a glorious one at that. I put him in his bed, where he sleeps for between 1 and 2 hours (yippee!). He wakes up happy and ready to play more; and I feel refreshed because I’ve had some quiet time to … do whatever (like blog, for instance).
The Girl and Boy Genius don’t really have quiet time anymore. Being in school all day and then going to bed early (to keep from being cranky in the a.m.) has eliminated the need for the early afternoon quiet time. That’s not to say that they don’t sometimes still need it — when the whining and fighting intensify, that’s usually a sign. For the most part, though, they’ve outgrown quiet time.
But not today. Today is a “snow day,” i.e., no school. That didn’t stop the whole lot from waking up as usual this a.m. So the past 6+ hours have been filled with “I’m bored”s, “Can we have a snack?”s, “There’s nothing to do”s, “I don’t want to play with him/her”s, and on and on and on. Oh yes, the weather outside is frightful, but that’s nothing compared to what’s going down in this 1100 s.f. apt if quiet time fails! Wonder Boy’s gone down for his nap and all through the house not a creature is stirring, for the time being, at least. I wonder how long it will last…