Emerging Rhythm

It’s funny how just turning my thoughts to rhythm has helped us find one. Already. Despite all the things that I thought had been holding us back before. One thing that helped a lot was me giving up the idea of Owen taking 2 naps a day. While I was fixated on the idea, we had no regularity. I never knew if or when I’d be able to get him to sleep, so I also didn’t know when we could run errands and he wound up sleeping in the car a lot. But now that we’re down to just one nap, I know he’ll sleep, and when, and the rest of our day has fallen into place. This is what our rhythm looks like:

We wake up when Owen does; sometimes it’s 7, sometimes it’s 9. I’ll take all I can get and wouldn’t dream of setting an alarm unless we have a specific appointment.

First things first, we put Owen on his little potty, and more often than not, he pees like a champ. Then breakfast. Some days, like today, Cole is a hero and does the morning routine while I sleep in with a pillow on my head. 🙂 Today, apparently, Owen turned his nose up at pears and cheerios and started pointing at the frying pan and the fridge, so for second breakfast he had scrambled eggs.

After breakfast is play time.  Our diapers need washed every other day, so today we practiced walking back and forth to the laundry room.  It was a beautiful, sunny day, and Owen loved walking in the grass.  We also play with toys and look at books.  Soon, we need to start washing the dishes during this time.

Lunch is at about 11:30, or whenever we start feeling peckish.  After lunch is nap time.  I sing a song while Owen nurses (my favorite is Summer Evening), and he laughs at me singing and then falls asleep before the song is done.  Here recently, since I’ve been having a hard time laying him down for naps, I just leave him latched and lay down in the big bed with him.  I take a journal and my kindle along, and that’s where I do a lot of my blogging and computer-ing.  It’s good relaxing time for me, and Owen usually wakes up with a big smile on his face.

My work space and my blogging buddy. 🙂

Once he’s up, we do potty time again, then a snack.  Afterwards, it’s underpants time.  Owen has just a few pairs of training underpants and a couple of wool soakers I knit.  I put him in a pair of underpants with a soaker on top – it’s warm enough in here, I don’t bother putting pants on him – and we visit the potty every half an hour until he pees his pants.  Then it’s back to diapers and usually on to dinner.  Also, I realized today that any errands we need to run should be done in the afternoon, so they don’t mess with nap time.

After dinner, we play, or maybe try to convince him to sit with us while we watch an episode of something he’s not interested in.  Then bath time is about 8, and he’s usually asleep by 9.

The rhythm flows beautifully and makes our days easier and more fun.  I love it!