I wanted to blog this as a routine check-in for me to go back to read one day if I want. It's interesting for me to detail some of our routines to see how they morph and change through the year(s).
It took us a couple of weeks, but I think we have finally settled into a new routine. This school year has been a whole new ball game for us. Kenzie starts school in the morning earlier than last year. There are two schools I have to visit two days a week. Naps are way messed up on the regular. We have to deal with car lines for drop off and pick up of Kenzie. Kenzie sometimes wants to bring lunch and sometimes wants to buy it. Will is learning to function in a classroom with a steady teacher and peers (somewhat different from an hour or so at church once a week). And I'm learning how to balance my time without children under my feet versus the times when I have one or both of them with me.
We started by setting a new routine about a week before school started. Now, when the kids get up in the morning, they get dressed first. Except that Will sometimes wakes up early and we haven't gotten him a clock yet that tells him it is okay to call us to come get him. We are likely moving him to a toddler bed around the time he turns 3 so we will probably get it at that point. As of right now, if he gets up early, he will come into bed with me until I need to get up. I get up a bit earlier than the kids to make sure I am ready to help them get ready and out the door on time. After Kenzie gets dressed (as she does it on her own), she calls me in to help her make her bed. She is still learning how to do it so I still help. I get Will dressed (or rather, I help him get dressed) and then we all head out to the kitchen for breakfast. The kids eat breakfast at the kitchen table. This is new as during the summer I would usually let them watch a TV show while they ate breakfast. That is no more though. They are too slow if they do that. Once they finish eating, we brush teeth and I fix Kenzie's hair then we get lunches out of the fridge and set up ready to go. If they have any extra time, they play together before we leave. Then we head out. I considered letting them watch a minute or two of tv if they got ready early, but so far, we haven't had enough time and it's probably easier anyway to nix the morning TV. Plus, then I don't feel bad when I put it on in the afternoon for them to relax a bit after school.
The drop off line in the morning isn't terrible. I am usually a bit early before the building opens so although some people drop their kids off outside to wait, I am not comfortable enough to do that with a 5 year old. She sits in the car until the building opens at which point the safety patrols start to help people out of cars. She needs help anyway as I have child locks on the car so she couldn't open it even if she wanted to. The last couple of days I have been a bit later getting there so the line is longer but she is still in the school before the cut off time. On Tuesday and Thursday Will has school as well. The only real issue is that his school doesn't start until 9 so we have just a bit too much time to go straight there. Instead, we usually go home since it is on the way, go potty, and head back out to get Will to school. He is super excited that he still gets to see our favorite crossing guard on the days he goes to school. It was so cute the first day we drove past him again. I forgot about rolling down the window and Will made me do it. The crossing guard recognized us immediately and came over to say hello. He is so nice. Will's school runs from 9-1:30 so that gives me a significant chunk of time to get some things done.
My goal this year is to set a serious run time each week. I am the definition of a casual runner. I love my runs, but sometimes I can go a week or two between them without meaning to. I'm not training for anything significant but I want to keep up with the fitness level I have going. Anyway, on Tuesday I have a run date with the state park next to Will's school. I have been going into the park (we have the family annual pass), driving to the end of the park road, and then running about a mile and a half up and turning around and heading back. The best part of the run is seeing the deer. There are so many out in the morning. They are awesome. I hope to keep that up throughout the school year and steadily increase my distance to be closer to 4-5 miles total. (I skipped it today actually though due to the rain in the area and the fact that I had a bunch of things I wanted to get done while there were no kiddos around.) Then I go home, shower, and get as much cleaning or work done that I can before I have to go back to get Will. On Thursday I'm keeping my shopping trip to Publix along with any other cleaning or work that I have going on. On the days that Will is home, we are going to try to set a scheduled park day each week as it gets cooler. We also still have the library story time once a week. Will is super obsessed with playing cars in his room right now too so we do that a lot. Well, he does that. He won't let me touch the cars most of the time because I don't do it right apparently so I have to sit and just watch him. As Steven said to me one day when he saw me doing it, "Getting a lot of use out of that degree now aren't you?" Haha!
I pick up Will at 1:30 on Tuesday and Thursday and have just enough time to get Will home, let him have a quick snack, and turn back around to leave to get Kenzie. We are still working on figuring out a nap. As of right now, he doesn't have one on those days. It is what it is. My goal is to get him to fall asleep in the car but he will figure it out. If he is tired, he sleeps. The good news is that he can go without a nap now so he is making do. On days that he doesn't have school, I put him down for a nap early because I have to get him up early to go get Kenzie. Well, except Wednesday as that is early release day and I would have to get him down for a nap around 11 to make sure he gets one in before we leave. And that is never going to work, especially with it also being story time day at the library so we aren't even home until almost 11:30 most days. So... no nap that day either. Even on days he is able to get a real nap in he sometimes plays around and never naps. Oh well. We are making it work. He is so easy going that it is working for us now but I feel we are going to inadvertently wean him from his nap. There is no other option at this point though. So, here we are.
The car line to get Kenzie is way worse in the afternoon but we are making it. I have become quite accustomed to sitting in a hot car with the windows down and the car off so that I don't waste gas. Will is okay with it too so we are doing fine. Since I spend all my time either dealing with Will, cleaning, running errands, or working it seems, I have decided to take the 30 or so minutes that we wait in the car line as a sort of time to myself. I also try not to interact much with Will if he hasn't napped anyway in order to encourage him to take a nap. I have been bringing a magazine or a book. If Will has napped, I bring a toy or book for him to play with. People have mentioned that they get there later (after dismissal technically) and the line is easier because so many people are early. I'm okay waiting though and I would rather not make Kenzie sit in the lobby of the school in a less structured setting for too long. Picking up Kenzie is easy enough and we are on our way.
Kenzie always wants a snack immediately upon getting home. Since she no longer has rest time during the week and Will has either already taken a nap or maybe is transitioned into his bed when we get home... or is anti-nap for the day, I let her have a snack and watch a TV show. Will usually watches with her. And tries to sneak another snack. Before TV though, we go through her binder and agenda so I can sign off on it and look at anything she brought home. She likes to show me all her work she brings home. Homework started this week. We are given all the homework for the entire week at once so we split up the tasks per day and before the TV goes on or we go outside, I help her with her homework. She is loving doing homework. She always liked it when she had it last year in VPK too so I hope that keeps up.
After their afternoon show (or sometimes before depending on timing), we try to go outside and play as long as the weather is cooperative. We usually stay out until I need to start dinner. I have a new goal for dinners this school year. I will be blogging about that in coming weeks as I have a few new recipes to add to our rotation of things we want to try or have tried and like. So, more on that at a later time.
Sometimes while I cook I let them watch a TV show if they didn't get a full one in when we got home or they ran a lot outside and are super tired or something. Then I make them go play. Sometimes they play together and sometimes they play alone but at least they give me time now to cook. That is something that was a long time coming and it opens up a whole new world for us. Haha! We eat dinner (and often with Steven lately as he hasn't been out of town for the last couple of weeks) and then take a bath, pick out clothes for the next day, read a book, and get in bed to start again the next day. Well, except Monday. That is our crazy day. Almost as soon as the kids get a snack and a small amount of outside play time, I'm inside cooking (or preparing everything as I like to actually cook it earlier in the day to save time), the kids get a bath, we eat, and then we head out for an hour of dance. Steven and I are talking about splitting the kids there and taking turns taking Kenzie to dance to keep Will home so he can get in bed early enough as he is lacking sleep now. We are going to keep trying to have both of us go to dance but we are open to changing the routine if need be.
It's an entirely new routine but it is working so well. I'm actually enjoying it. It keeps us busy but the routine is nice to have. The kids are doing really well with it. They like routine almost as much as I do. =)
I'm hoping we can keep it going strong through the school year. The year is young. Haha!
It took us a couple of weeks, but I think we have finally settled into a new routine. This school year has been a whole new ball game for us. Kenzie starts school in the morning earlier than last year. There are two schools I have to visit two days a week. Naps are way messed up on the regular. We have to deal with car lines for drop off and pick up of Kenzie. Kenzie sometimes wants to bring lunch and sometimes wants to buy it. Will is learning to function in a classroom with a steady teacher and peers (somewhat different from an hour or so at church once a week). And I'm learning how to balance my time without children under my feet versus the times when I have one or both of them with me.
We started by setting a new routine about a week before school started. Now, when the kids get up in the morning, they get dressed first. Except that Will sometimes wakes up early and we haven't gotten him a clock yet that tells him it is okay to call us to come get him. We are likely moving him to a toddler bed around the time he turns 3 so we will probably get it at that point. As of right now, if he gets up early, he will come into bed with me until I need to get up. I get up a bit earlier than the kids to make sure I am ready to help them get ready and out the door on time. After Kenzie gets dressed (as she does it on her own), she calls me in to help her make her bed. She is still learning how to do it so I still help. I get Will dressed (or rather, I help him get dressed) and then we all head out to the kitchen for breakfast. The kids eat breakfast at the kitchen table. This is new as during the summer I would usually let them watch a TV show while they ate breakfast. That is no more though. They are too slow if they do that. Once they finish eating, we brush teeth and I fix Kenzie's hair then we get lunches out of the fridge and set up ready to go. If they have any extra time, they play together before we leave. Then we head out. I considered letting them watch a minute or two of tv if they got ready early, but so far, we haven't had enough time and it's probably easier anyway to nix the morning TV. Plus, then I don't feel bad when I put it on in the afternoon for them to relax a bit after school.
The drop off line in the morning isn't terrible. I am usually a bit early before the building opens so although some people drop their kids off outside to wait, I am not comfortable enough to do that with a 5 year old. She sits in the car until the building opens at which point the safety patrols start to help people out of cars. She needs help anyway as I have child locks on the car so she couldn't open it even if she wanted to. The last couple of days I have been a bit later getting there so the line is longer but she is still in the school before the cut off time. On Tuesday and Thursday Will has school as well. The only real issue is that his school doesn't start until 9 so we have just a bit too much time to go straight there. Instead, we usually go home since it is on the way, go potty, and head back out to get Will to school. He is super excited that he still gets to see our favorite crossing guard on the days he goes to school. It was so cute the first day we drove past him again. I forgot about rolling down the window and Will made me do it. The crossing guard recognized us immediately and came over to say hello. He is so nice. Will's school runs from 9-1:30 so that gives me a significant chunk of time to get some things done.
My goal this year is to set a serious run time each week. I am the definition of a casual runner. I love my runs, but sometimes I can go a week or two between them without meaning to. I'm not training for anything significant but I want to keep up with the fitness level I have going. Anyway, on Tuesday I have a run date with the state park next to Will's school. I have been going into the park (we have the family annual pass), driving to the end of the park road, and then running about a mile and a half up and turning around and heading back. The best part of the run is seeing the deer. There are so many out in the morning. They are awesome. I hope to keep that up throughout the school year and steadily increase my distance to be closer to 4-5 miles total. (I skipped it today actually though due to the rain in the area and the fact that I had a bunch of things I wanted to get done while there were no kiddos around.) Then I go home, shower, and get as much cleaning or work done that I can before I have to go back to get Will. On Thursday I'm keeping my shopping trip to Publix along with any other cleaning or work that I have going on. On the days that Will is home, we are going to try to set a scheduled park day each week as it gets cooler. We also still have the library story time once a week. Will is super obsessed with playing cars in his room right now too so we do that a lot. Well, he does that. He won't let me touch the cars most of the time because I don't do it right apparently so I have to sit and just watch him. As Steven said to me one day when he saw me doing it, "Getting a lot of use out of that degree now aren't you?" Haha!
I pick up Will at 1:30 on Tuesday and Thursday and have just enough time to get Will home, let him have a quick snack, and turn back around to leave to get Kenzie. We are still working on figuring out a nap. As of right now, he doesn't have one on those days. It is what it is. My goal is to get him to fall asleep in the car but he will figure it out. If he is tired, he sleeps. The good news is that he can go without a nap now so he is making do. On days that he doesn't have school, I put him down for a nap early because I have to get him up early to go get Kenzie. Well, except Wednesday as that is early release day and I would have to get him down for a nap around 11 to make sure he gets one in before we leave. And that is never going to work, especially with it also being story time day at the library so we aren't even home until almost 11:30 most days. So... no nap that day either. Even on days he is able to get a real nap in he sometimes plays around and never naps. Oh well. We are making it work. He is so easy going that it is working for us now but I feel we are going to inadvertently wean him from his nap. There is no other option at this point though. So, here we are.
The car line to get Kenzie is way worse in the afternoon but we are making it. I have become quite accustomed to sitting in a hot car with the windows down and the car off so that I don't waste gas. Will is okay with it too so we are doing fine. Since I spend all my time either dealing with Will, cleaning, running errands, or working it seems, I have decided to take the 30 or so minutes that we wait in the car line as a sort of time to myself. I also try not to interact much with Will if he hasn't napped anyway in order to encourage him to take a nap. I have been bringing a magazine or a book. If Will has napped, I bring a toy or book for him to play with. People have mentioned that they get there later (after dismissal technically) and the line is easier because so many people are early. I'm okay waiting though and I would rather not make Kenzie sit in the lobby of the school in a less structured setting for too long. Picking up Kenzie is easy enough and we are on our way.
Kenzie always wants a snack immediately upon getting home. Since she no longer has rest time during the week and Will has either already taken a nap or maybe is transitioned into his bed when we get home... or is anti-nap for the day, I let her have a snack and watch a TV show. Will usually watches with her. And tries to sneak another snack. Before TV though, we go through her binder and agenda so I can sign off on it and look at anything she brought home. She likes to show me all her work she brings home. Homework started this week. We are given all the homework for the entire week at once so we split up the tasks per day and before the TV goes on or we go outside, I help her with her homework. She is loving doing homework. She always liked it when she had it last year in VPK too so I hope that keeps up.
After their afternoon show (or sometimes before depending on timing), we try to go outside and play as long as the weather is cooperative. We usually stay out until I need to start dinner. I have a new goal for dinners this school year. I will be blogging about that in coming weeks as I have a few new recipes to add to our rotation of things we want to try or have tried and like. So, more on that at a later time.
Sometimes while I cook I let them watch a TV show if they didn't get a full one in when we got home or they ran a lot outside and are super tired or something. Then I make them go play. Sometimes they play together and sometimes they play alone but at least they give me time now to cook. That is something that was a long time coming and it opens up a whole new world for us. Haha! We eat dinner (and often with Steven lately as he hasn't been out of town for the last couple of weeks) and then take a bath, pick out clothes for the next day, read a book, and get in bed to start again the next day. Well, except Monday. That is our crazy day. Almost as soon as the kids get a snack and a small amount of outside play time, I'm inside cooking (or preparing everything as I like to actually cook it earlier in the day to save time), the kids get a bath, we eat, and then we head out for an hour of dance. Steven and I are talking about splitting the kids there and taking turns taking Kenzie to dance to keep Will home so he can get in bed early enough as he is lacking sleep now. We are going to keep trying to have both of us go to dance but we are open to changing the routine if need be.
It's an entirely new routine but it is working so well. I'm actually enjoying it. It keeps us busy but the routine is nice to have. The kids are doing really well with it. They like routine almost as much as I do. =)
I'm hoping we can keep it going strong through the school year. The year is young. Haha!
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