Me and My Toddler's Daily Routine

I taught in public school for 8 years... from 3rd graders to seniors, I taught them all.  

The one thing that I always pushed was a routine.  Our class period always started out the same way, whether it was a quick 5 minute sketch when I taught art, watching CNN Student News when I taught Social Studies, or doing our daily DOL (Daily Language Review, Grade 1) when I taught English, the kids knew what to do whether I was in the room or not.  Our routines set the expectations and made life so much easier.

It's funny how kids catch on to the routine so quickly.

Sweet Pea knows how things go each morning and afternoon 

which helps with toddler meltdowns and tantrums I think.

So here is what a typical day looks like for us:

It's what happens during that whole "Be Awesome" time frame :) 

I'm not awesome at all of it... some days I am not awesome at any of it! 

4:45-6:00 am    I wake up, get dressed and go workout.

6:00-6:45 am    Shower and get ready for the day

6:45-7:30 am    Personal Quiet Time with the Lord and coffee

7:30-8:00 am    Sweet Pea wakes up; I get her dressed, wake up my husband, get him out the door.

8:00-9:00 am    Sweet Pea drinks her milk, has quiet play or watches Clifford on Netflix, while I 

                          make her breakfast and do a few chores.

9:00-10 am       Begin our morning errands.  I try to do most of the running around town in the 

                           morning so that when she gets up from her nap, we can just stay home.      

10:00-12 pm    Mondays: Homeschool Co-op day.  

                        Tuesdays:  Bible Study (Entrusted - Bible Study Book: A Study of 2 Timothy) and
                                           Sweet Pea has play time with friends in the Nursery.

                        Wednesdays: Story Time and Crafts at our Local Library

                        Thursdays and Fridays: FREE for whatever we want.  (this is when I usually                                                                               grocery shop.)

12-1 pm           Lunch, books, snuggle time in our chair, and put down for a nap.

1-3:00pm        Sweet Pea naps.  I blog, nap, get church stuff done, sew, or whatever quiet activity I 

                          want.  I might do laundry... might... but usually do not clean during this time.

3-5:00 pm       Mother Goose Time activities and out door time!  On Thursdays, Sweet Pea has      

                          gymnastics at 4:15-5 but we just started and do our Mother Goose Time stuff in the 

                          morning.

5-7:00 pm       Cook and Eat dinner, play time with Daddy while I cook

7-8:00 pm       Brush Teeth, Bath, blow dry hair (her hair is so thick! We have to blow-dry before bed)

8-8:30 pm       Books and Prayers with Daddy; Rock with Me and then Bed Time.

8:45-10 pm     Set Up Mother Goose Time stuff for the next day, and Me and My time 

10:00 pm        My bed time 

One of the great things (there's like a million) about Mother Goose Time is that everything is included in each daily bag. Set up is a cinch at night!  All I have to do is look at my Teacher Guide, open my daily bag and put each activity on it's own tray. 

Then I place the trays on our buffet table and things are ready for whenever we want to do some Mother Goose Time stuff!

Sometimes, Sweet Pea has so much fun doing an activity, she wants to do it again with Daddy when he gets home, like when we had our Mail Carrier Day.  Keeping all our supplies here makes it easy for Daddy to grab a tray and play with her while I am cooking dinner.

Having the trays set up also helps when Sweet Pea just doesn't want to do an activity.  She's 2.5 years old. I am not going to push her right now to do something she just isn't interested in.
If she is not interested in one tray, I just switch it out for a different one.
Right now, at this age, I just want to play with her and let her experience as many different things as I can.  I want her to love learning...to love experiencing new things... to observe things well, and question why things work or don't.

Mother Goose Time helps with all those aspirations of mine.  Even if one day is a total bust, the next day might be the best ever.  You never know with toddlers how they will react from one moment to the next.

Somedays are awesome.
Somedays are not.
And most days are somewhere in between.
But everyday I am grateful for the moments I get to have with my girl.