I wanted to write up and share with you our current schedule
for two reasons: 1) a way to freeze this moment in time of how life looks like
for us right now, and 2) because these are the posts I’m always interested in
reading in from others for scheduling and activity tips and tricks. We have two
little boys, Oskar, 3.5 years, and August, 22 months. Life is busy, but finally
getting a bit more manageable, and this is how we roll.
6:00-6:30am: Both boys wake up. We’ve always had very early
risers and have come to terms with the fact that this is life now. Oskar,
especially, has always been a very light sleeper, and we used to have issues
with him getting out of bed all through the night. We introduced this
clock about a year ago that made all the difference (he named it Freddy).
It lights up and glows green when it’s OK to get out of bed. When he wakes up
during the night he can see that it’s still night time and he needs to stay in
bed. We have the clock set to his normal wake time of 6:15a, and he always
skips into our room shortly thereafter saying, “Freddy’s green!”. Both boys
cozy up into our bed and watch a show or two as we slowly wake ourselves up and
get everybody downstairs.
7:00am: Cheerios in bowls and milks in these
spill proof cups as the boys sit on the couch and watch a show (current
favorites are The Gruffalo, Stick Man, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, or Daniel
Tiger, all on Netflix). Matt and I take turns getting ready for the day
upstairs while the other is making coffee and getting breakfast together for
the kids. The boys normally eat hardboiled eggs, waffles, pancakes, yogurt, a
banana, or smoothies. Matt heads out to work around 7:40am since he works right
down the street (truly the biggest blessing) and sees his first patient at
8:00am. Some mornings, I'll have early-morning calls for work and Matt will drop the boys off at school instead of me.
Morning TV
8:00am: I leave the house to drop the boys off at
daycare/pre-school on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays. On Wednesdays and
Thursdays their Mummo (grandma) comes to the house to watch them. I work from
home and am typically able to load the dishwasher, throw in a load of laundry,
or do a quick grocery run over lunch. Very thankful for that! I try to get
dinner started, but we also give ourselves grace and order out once a week or
so. There are also plenty of days of eating leftovers or building salads, so
cooking definitely does not happen every day.
The ride to school. I simply cannot. PS-I was at a redlight when I took this picture.
3:30pm: Since I mostly work with colleagues from Europe and Asia, I'm able to go pick up the boys from school or send Mummo home and finish up any remaining work after the boys go to sleep.
If it’s nice outside, we’ll go to the park to play, go to the lake by our
house, or ride bikes in our cul de sac. Otherwise, we’ll go to the library, go
to a little café for an after school snack, stop by to see a friend, or come
home to play in the bounce house the boys got for Christmas.
Park Day!
5:15pm: Matt comes home (he has shorter days Thursdays and
Fridays, so those are our favorites!) The kids play with both of us for a little
while and Oskar recaps his day. We let them watch a show around 5:30/5:45pm as
we finish getting dinner ready together.
6:00pm: Dinner time. We try our best to eat together, but on
especially busy days, Matt and I will eat by ourselves after the boys are
sleeping. The boys are typical picky eaters and they usually have pizza, chicken
nuggets, or some pasta variation, with fruit, snap peas, or cherry tomatoes on
the side. This is a hill I’ve chosen not to die on. We certainly continue to
offer new and different foods, but “fed is best” is our motto for now.
6:45pm: Bath time. We usually do baths every other day. We’ve
gotten some really cute bath toys for birthdays or holidays recently, and
especially love this
bubble making train, this
waterfall making frog, or this
ice cream cone set. Out of everything we’ve tried, we like this
baby wash and this
lotion the best. We let them play until someone gets squirted in the eye or
they start flooding the bathroom.
Bathtime. Fun fact: we got these buckets at the hospital after each baby was born.
7:15pm: Pajamas and brush teeth. We’ve always let Oskar pick
out his toothbrush and toothpaste from the store himself, and he’s always been
a really good rule follower in this department. August sometimes needs some
coaxing, but watching big brother or letting him watch this Elmo video while simultaneously
brushing normally do the trick. The boys are, strangely enough, the very best
at this time of night and are so good at playing together. They run up and down
our upstairs hallway, pretending that Matt is the Giant and I am the Wife from Jack and the Beanstalk (Oskar is Jack
and August is the Harp, haha), or that we are monsters and they need to run
away from us. They also like to wrestle like little bear cubs, and I think this
will be forever be one of my very favorite memories from when they were small.
7:45pm: Matt or I start putting August down. We try to take
turns on who takes which kiddo, though Oskar has been pushy for just Mama
lately. August gets read three books, rocked with the lights out for a few
minutes, then we put him in his crib awake. He’s always been infinitely better
at this than Oskar ever was, and goes to sleep on his own by 8:00pm without a
peep. We still use this
sleep sack for him in the winter months because without it, he’s constantly
waking up cold and without covers. We also use this
sound machine that plays continuously since they have a shared wall. The
more white noise, the better they seem to sleep.
In the meantime, whichever parent isn’t putting August to
sleep is doing a 1:1 activity with Oskar (he truly shines when he gets
undivided attention, and I think this is really important for him). Lately, we
build Legos or Mega Bloks, play with his Dollhouse,
put together these
gears, or build a marble
maze.
8:00pm: One more potty run, then Oskar picks out the books
he wants to read. We typically get through 2 or 3. Then its lights out and
Oskar crawls into his big boy bed. He has a big imagination, and he always asks
to hear two (he negotiated this) made-up stories about a little boy named Brian
who does naughty things and plays tricks on people. We always end the stories
with an “I love you”, and a promise that we’ll check on him in a little bit. I think
this reassures him, and he stays in his bed and falls asleep by 8:30pm, before
we ever make it back up again.
8:30pm: Matt and I eat dinner on the nights where we couldn’t
squeeze it in earlier. We both catch up on work and watch a show in the
background. Then we pack lunches (our most dreaded activity) and get the kids
clothes ready for the next day.
10:00pm: We really
try to be in bed by 10 to either fall asleep when we’re totally exhausted
(often) or to read a book for a little while. Then it’s a new day, and we
marathon through again. I think all parents agree that weekends are sacred, and
we try to find a good balance of doing fun stuff but also resting and relaxing.
So that’s it! I’d love to hear any tips or tricks to making
life as seamless as possible with kids, so send them my way!
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