overheard

At 7:00 a.m. on Sunday morning, I awoke to this sound in the next room (the boys share a bedroom):

Caleb: Caiah, wake up!
Mic: Caleb, go back to sleep.
Caleb: Caiah, wake up!
Mic: (slightly yelling) Caleb, it's too early for me to wake up yet. Look! It's dark outside. Mommy says I can't get out of bed too early. I have to stay in bed. Lay down and go back to sleep.

At least I know that the boy listens when I talk.

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Michelle over at the Not-So-Daily Chronicles asked her readers what a day in their life looked like. Since Michelle and I are twins separated at birth and I did not want to leave a novel in her comments, I decided to answer her questions here instead.

I am by no means pretending to be an expert in child-rearing. However, I am a student of my own children, constantly learning what works and what doesn't and adjusting accordingly. That said, I also thrive on structure and you know...a plan. I am more flexible than people realize, since they don't live in my home on a daily basis. Here is our basic day (the times are flexible so I just excluded them):

~Wake up
~Eat breakfast
~The boys play in their room while I get a shower and get dressed
~The boys watch a short video or t.v. show while I get online and start laundry
~Snack time.
~Play time. It varies, but we might go outside, ride bikes indoors, listen to music, do a small craft or whatever they want to do. We may go somewhere, if we have the car.
~Lunch.
~Play a little bit more, then read books.
~Caleb takes a nap.
~Mic naps several days a week, but on the days he doesn't, he must play quietly, read books and sometimes he watches a movie.

So that's what it looks like until nap time. After naps, it's a short video, dinner, play or go to the park if their daddy is home and then bedtime preparation.

As for me, I try to get up around 6 a.m. It doesn't always happen but I try. That way, I can drink coffee, eat breakfast and have some time with the Lord before the kids get up. I would love to be able to get ready before the kids wake up too, but it would wake them up, I think.

Playing with the kids is not a strong point of mine, but I'm trying. One thing that helps with the play/housework balance is something that I learned from Jo Frost, the Supernanny. She advises that a parent get a child set up with toys/crafts or whatever it is that they want to do. The parent participates for a few minutes and then quietly walks away. I do this quite a bit and walk away to do laundry or some other chore. They don't seem to notice for a little while. When they come to look for me, I'll go back and participate for a little while longer and then walk away quietly again. Micaiah does not play well alone and is always the child who comes looking for me. I have started to really work on him with that. The boys like to play with toys and random things, such as ribbon or tape. They like to color, paint, dance, ride bikes and go outside. I have a mental tally of the things that we have put away in the closet for those times when the kids get bored. Memory games, paint sets and toys that I have put away to pull out as a boredom buster.

I don't work outside of the home and we only have one car. This means that I usually go shopping by myself when Keith is home or I'll take Caleb with me while Micaiah is at preschool. I try to not take both kids with me if I don't have to...you know, for my sanity's sake.

Most of my cooking prep (such as chopping vegetables) is done during naptime. If not, I do it while the kids are watching a short video in the afternoon, after their naps. I do limit their t.v. time to approximately 1 to 1.5 hours per day, but I don't stress about it as much as I used to. I try to use that time wisely and get as much done as possible.

Bedtime is bath, dressed, books, teeth brushing and into bed. Our boys go to bed at the same time in the same room. It's taken some work but we rarely have a problem now.

This whole routine works now that the boys are older (3.5 and 2). Things were different when they were younger but this is how we roll now. We started as early as possible to get them eating and sleeping at the same time, because that simplifies things.

So there's us. Making messes one day at a time. :)