Well I have been putting off a Day In The Life post since January. It sat as a word doc. I took pictures. I got continually lazy about it. How much is too much to share? At what point would y’all go “enough already…we get it.” Well I realized this routine will come to an end soon. My life with a solo toddler will be no more. Like any day now so I better get it down…if anything, for me.
So let’s get down some facts up front:
- 2 working parents with the same hours.
- 1 almost 3 year old in full time daycare
- 1 giant 7 yr old dog who still stays in a crate
- 1 über flexible workplace with 35 hour work week
Now like Alicia, I have a wonderful helper each morning. Kevin and I are an awesome team. If anything made our marriage stronger post baby, it was the team we can assemble to get stuff done. Mornings are the best example of this.
5:45: K’s alarm to walk the dog. Not pregnant during the warm months, you may find me up at 5:15 doing it with a run.
6:00: My alarm to get in the shower.
6:20: Out of shower often to chirps of a toddler on the monitor. He either falls back asleep or plays in his bed. He hasn’t decided to get out on his own yet. I’ll take it.
6:30: K is back from the walk and has feed the dog and ready to shower
6:30-7 (B): Makeup, hair and brush teeth
6:30-7 (K): Shower, clothes and brush teeth
7:00-7:10: Go to Landon’s room. He is usually sitting in his bed and pops up “Hi Mommy/Daddy!” Then he starts talking about something. He keeps talking until he goes to bed…I swear. So PJs and diaper off. Pee. Clothes and undies on. We OUT!
7:10-7:30: Make treats for the dog. Pack the car. Make and eat breakfast. Brush teeth.
7:30: Family piles in the car together. Landon plays on his phone, Kevin drives and I tweet. Ahhh family bonding.
8:00ish: Drop off Landon at daycare. We are usually the parents who hang around a bit. We aren’t in a giant rush to get to work. We read a book, color or just chat with his teachers.
8:00-8:15: Park at work and maybe grab coffee/breakfast at the cafe together. Then we head to our separate building across the street from one another to start the work day.
How geez that is a lot in 2 hours. Of course this is the ideal. There are the mornings that you walk into Landon’s room to whining and you know the day is off kilter. He is going to protest everything from what he wears to getting him to brush teeth. We roll with it and still usually end up at work around the same time…just a little more tired.
Once again, working and carpooling together is HUGE for our routine. We save precious time here. There is no “solo” parenting usually. Ebbs and flows beautifully. Granted this routine has changed through the kid stages, but we have always had a similar schedule. I even practiced this on maternity leave. I would get up when Kevin did and get the house moving in some way. When I started back to work, it was easy. Yes, there was nursing to consider and bottles to pack but we made it work. So I guess we will make it work again…right??
Morning routines are soooo hard!! I have two, a 15 month and and 3 year old. My husband workds 45 miles away so he is out the door way before we are. I am very lucky if I ever make it to work on time. ugh! Hopefully it will get a bit easier down the road.
The team mentality really is the saving grace. Also doing the SAME THING every morning helps set expectations. A few things I think help us? No TV and no real time to get out a lot of toys. Since we basically go breakfast to car, there are less distractions. On the rare occasion we have to wait a bit to leave, there is so much more whining. Toddler and dog.
Twitter: mannlymama
I am jealous of people who have team effort in the morning. But then again, E and I have our routine down so when the Hubs is home for his bonus days off, it throws off our morning.
The week before I went back to work, I also started getting into our routine and I think it helped those first few days back where I had enough to worry about. Since we’ve decided to keep E in daycare part time while I’m on maternity leave, I’ll still be responsible for dropping her off (we work in opposite directions, but daycare is on my side), I’ll still have a routine in place to help prepare for the actual return to work.
I think if you did as you did with L, you should be in great shape when you do return… already into a routine and having K’s help. I hope everything falls into place for you, if not sooner.
Oh I am sure we will get it down really quickly….just will be different. When L was an infant, it looks different because drop off was WAY different. Bottles, nursing, etc. At least I am closer to the infant this time and can pop over.
Twitter: mannlymama
Brandy, this was a great post. I love getting a glimpse into how other mamas get it done in the morning! We also have our kiddo in her crib for a while after she wakes up during the week. Sometimes I feel guilty, but I’ll take that over the sheer frustration of trying to get ready while she “organizes” my nail polish and tampons.
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Twitter: MommyGoesToWork
Nah man. I love him having time to himself. Teaches him a little patience which he is gonna need with #2. also some independence. The toddler bed has allowed for him to be able to do more things on his own. Read some books, play with some toys without needing us. Even this morning my husband opened his door and he said “no daddy.” and closed it for a few more minutes alone.
Twitter: mannlymama
Your routine is very similar to ours. Except we do not carpool as hubby and I work in different areas. The team aspect is HUGE!! Not only in every day routines but when it comes to unexpected curve balls. For example… I hear coughing followed by crying the other night through our monitor and when I entered my toddler’s room at 2am, there was puke everwhere. I scooped him up, peeked into my bedroom to a soundly sleeping husband and sweetly said, “we have a puke situation here!” I proceeded to bathe our little guy while hubby cleaned up the destruction zone in the crib and got it ready with clean sheets. We probably ran through the whole routine in 20 minutes returned to bed and gave eachother a high five for speed and efficiency!
Team Parents can’t be beat!
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P.S. – What age did you introduce the toddler bed?
Kendra recently posted..Weekend Wrap-up
We just did in May (34ish months). I was reluctant because he loved his crib but the crib was going to the baby. We wanted a couple months of him getting used to it. It was a super easy transition for us. Loves his big boy bed a little more freedom. He asks to just go up there and play now.
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Twitter: mannlymama