The four year old

I have a four year old.  It's been a month.   I like having  a four year old. . . it's pretty fun!  He is (and has always been) a joy to me!  This picture was taken a few weeks ago when we were doing a quick shoot in the backyard for his thank you cards. 

Now, this four year old is growing up and it makes me sad . . . and excited. . . it's bittersweet.  I am sad that he's not really my baby anymore. . . but he still loves to cuddle.  I am excited about all the new adventures we will have now that he's a big kid.  

But with this growing up things, we had to say goodbye to naps.  Yep. . . out the door.  Naps have always been kind of sacred to me (probably selfish, I know), but it when I get just a few moments of peace and quiet and I really had a moment where the loss of said naptime gave me a very sad feeling.  I almost cried. . . . really.  

However, I thought to myself, there has got to be some kind of quiet box idea out there that will help with this. . . so I went to my favorite search zone for items such as these and came out with site after site of ideas for quiet boxes!  So, other mom's also thought of similar things!  So here are mine:

Mine are filled with various books, color wonder stuff, tangrams, unifix cubes, file folder games, busy bags, puzzles, and other things I can't think of right now.  Each box is filled with different things and every few weeks, I will change everything out for new things.  

I made the labels using some free backgrounds and my Storybook Creator program.  I taped them on using clear packing tape.  If you are interested in the labels, comment with your email and I will send you the jpg of them.  They aren't perfect, but they work (and I am kind of on a Chevron kick right now).  

The boxes are just Sterelite boxes from Target that were a dollar a piece.  This ended being a super easy and fun way to install "Quiet time" into this new phase of childhood.  

What do you do (or plan on doing) with your child after naps end?