Friday, December 11, 2009

Operation Unitask: Day Five

Wow, this is tiring.

The computer has been moved upstairs which, I've found, is good and bad:
Good - I engage with my children much more often, like when Nora's eating breakfast, or when Lillian is picking up her blocks. Little bits of time that I used to spend checking my email.
Bad - I moved the computer into the office upstairs which is the most un-kid-friendly place we have in our house. Nora has spent the last five days upending my sewing box, going through the craft drawers, taking out all of my check books, finding and chewing on stray staples, pulling all our year books off the bookshelf, and trying to pull all the electronic equipment down onto her head. Maybe I should spend less time in here. I'm just saying.

The thing about so much engagement, is that you have to actually find things to do to fill up all that time. We spend a lot of time at home because Nora's 2 naps perfectly straddle Lillian's nap, so during the day, I most always have at least one child asleep. All this home time is a perfect recipe for stir-craziness and a complete exhaustion of all the activities our house has to offer. I've tried pushing Nora to stay awake and take one nap the same time as Lillian, but 80% of the time, this ends in disaster and at least two of us in tears. She's just not ready. Coming up with enough things to do to fill in those hours is a lot of work, and as I've been feeling under the weather lately (hint hint), we end up watching a lot of Disney Princess Sing-A-Long Songs.

Time for a new objective: Make (and try to stick to) a schedule. We don't have many house rules, mostly because Lillian's pretty obedient, and we don't really have a set schedule because we don't really have a whole lot that has to get done during the day. But Supernanny says that a schedule will organize our family and make us awesome, so I'm going to try it. I'm not sure what exactly I'm going to put on this schedule (see above and how I don't know what to do with my kids all day) but I'm going to make one.

I'm curious: what does your daily schedule look like?

5 comments:

michelle m said...

Hint hint?

Belle of the Blues said...

haha, I know what 'hint hint' means; your mom told me. =)

I cannot imagine being stuck at home for that long. It was actually something of a relief when my kids gave up their naps because it gave me more freedom, and they went to bed for the night earlier. But my kids are four years apart.

Our daily schedule is mostly dictated by Owen's school schedule. Once he has been dropped off, Soren and I usually exercise, go to the library, and/or run some errands. Then we come home, have lunch, have quiet time, play (tinker toys, play-doh, legos...), then it's time to pick Owen up.

My life has changed a lot since Owen started school. I feel like Soren is experiencing a completely different set of parents than Owen did.

Bridget said...

I'm wondering about that hint...

Our schedule is: wake up/breakfast/etc., morning activity or errand, lunch, nap/quiet time, outdoor play, dinner, rough-house inside and clean up, bed.

But I'm not dealing with multiple nappers. Magdalena has been on one-a-day since was nine months old and Miriam hasn't taken a nap regularly for more than two years. So I'm no help there.

Also, this is a little pearl of wisdom I gleaned from FMH somewhere along the line. Whenever I feel like I'm wasting my time doing something mundane with my kids, I take a mental step back and think, "What am I really doing? I am building her confidence, or helping her learn x task, or reinforcing whatever." It is nice to focus on What I'm Doing instead of thinking of all the better ways I could be using my time besides cutting out paper dolls with Miriam.

I like this project!

heidi nielsen said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
heidi nielsen said...

As a mom of three crazy boys under 5, who are home all day, I feel for you. I do a preschool with my 4 and 3 year old some days that helps take up a good hour or more in the morning. We also like to turn on the radio at nickjr.com and have dance parties. The bean bag chairs I made them for Christmas last year are great for practicing their stunt moves. They always get a movie in the afternoon during baby's second nap since neither of the older two take naps anymore. I generally let them watch one show in the morning and play 30 minutes of games online each. I also put my kids to bed by 7:00 so I know I have time to get my things done after their bedtime, and before mine. This way I can also limit the amount of errands I have to drag three kids on during the day.

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