Routine has always seemed like a negative word to me. If you say something is routine it seems to me to be boring. Now, as I have two little ones, I am begging for some routine to just happen. I read in a Sacramento magazine about families with six or more children, one mom profiled has a daily schedule set in 30 minutes slots. I can only imagine scheduling when to do the dishes and when to take the trash out, I would however like to know when Bryson will nap and when he won’t.
Nallia is the calmest baby you have even seen, Bryson was easy but Nallia spends the day looking around. She likes to be held and does not like a wet diaper but otherwise she is just happy. She is best when you let her sleep in the morning and nurse as she wants. This all leads to wonderful and fun days OR days where Bryson wakes her up every time she tries to sleep then he decides to not take a nap and they are both super tired and grumpy, here is where I wish we had a routine. He has never been one for doing it all the same but she is very much a baby with a schedule. She likes to wake around 8:30am, eat and then take a nap at 10:30ish, eat then nap again. This is the time of day that makes it or breaks it. At about 1pm Bryson has reached the point where he should nap or be happy to have quiet time. Most days he has quite time, about twice a week he takes a nap but on occasion he tries to nap and never falls asleep he just keeps bugging Nallia and singing and talking. These are the worst days. By about 4:30 she is over tiered and he is crazy.
Today was one of those days, not the worst of those, but I am learning to manage better. Once I recognized he is out of the routine we head out. The library saved us today with a new Signing Time DVD, 3 books and a audio book for me. We spent some time there and headed home, at home we were able to watch the Signing Time and everyone was happy.
One day down, one more lesson they have taught me that routine could be boring but sometimes boring is nice and peaceful.
I hear you about routines. My sister in law is VERY scheduled with her kids, I swear she never leaves the house because of all the naptimes needing to be had in cribs. OK! Not for me. However, there are days when I could use a little direction myself when the day is just crazy. Yea for the library! We have gone to the once a month Saturday Storytime at the Eureka library twice now. North seems to like it.