3-31-09 Our daily things...

I always look at my posts and think "Man, it feels like we did so much more today than that!", it felt like we were non-stop all day long! I made myself sit back and think about just WHAT we do on a daily basis. So, I made a list (to make myself feel better) and I do feel accomplished.

On days that we have things planned, it's a crap-shoot and we stick chores and tray times where they may fall. We usually have planned events three to four days of the 'business week'. On days we don't have any "out of the house" activities planned, things just sort of fall into a loose schedule (not planned, it just sort of happens).

On a daily basis, Ryan will help me with whatever "chores" I deem necessary (or let's say, I deem 'hey, let's keep the hubbie sane' - haha) for the day. Cleaning out the dishwasher or filling it, reboot some laundry, general straightening/decluttering/putting away toys/clothes/socks/last week's-just-found-milk-sippy, etc. Ryan is in charge of feeding Lindy (the dog) every morning and letting her in from her "morning constitution". He is recently making his bed "all by myself" also. He loves to help me cook or prepare whatever meal we are having.

We listen to some sort of music during breakfast and he usually starts in asking for tray time right after breakfast - if he makes it that long. A lot of times he is asking as soon as we walk into the kitchen or playroom. We do a tray or two (depending on how long he's interested in each particular one) and if he's stayed dry all night long, he gets a show (Sesame Street, Dora, Blue's Clues, Little Bill, Backyardigans, Wiggles, etc.) at some point in the morning. Music may or may not still be playing - depending on the length of the cd, the interest level of the boy and if I think about hitting play again or putting in another cd.

During all this, I briefly check my email, shower and get ready for the day, feed Cassada a couple of different times, stick some cereal and fruit in her somewhere in there, stretch her neck here and there (torticollis), dress the two of them for the day, clean up the kitchen/playroom/living room from whatever may be there the night before and the chaos of breakfast and probably more laundry. Ryan has spent this time doing trays, free play, puzzles, coloring (he likes to color outside of the shower while I shower and put make up on) and/or watching a show.

After we are all fed, dressed and for the most part cleaned up we will either run an errand, go to a park, a friend's house or do something in the house (it never seems to get all done) - usually involving some more tray times or cleaning up after the previous tray times. We sing songs, sometimes out of the song notebook, look through his previously done artwork, I have floor time with Cassada while playing with Ryan, read books to both and Ryan usually wants some computer time on starfall.com (or he calls it star-dot-com) or some video off of youtube.

At some point in here, I have fed Cassada (again) and put her down for a nap that'll range from 30 minutes to a couple of hours - we never know. At this point, it's time to start lunch 'festivities'. Ryan usually helps me with lunch and Cassada is usually awake by this point, so she's up wanting to be nursed/fed. After lunch, we play for whatever time we have before a loose nap time of 2:00 or 2:30-ish. If Cassada short-napped in the morning, then she'll usually go down around this time too. If not, she'll wait until 2.7 seconds before Ryan wakes up and then she'll go down...leaving me with 2.7 seconds of me-time... But, if they miraculously nap at the same time I get ME time - usually equating to another brief check of email, rebooting laundry somewhere, cleaning something, thinking about/starting dinner and whatever else strikes me that day. It's rarely something fun - like a hobby, tv or whatever. Some days, I will knit, but that's pretty rare now.

After nap, we do a variety of things - if we didn't do anything outside in the AM, we use this opportunity to go outside. If not, he usually asks for his 'after nap' tv time (another 30 minute show) and more tray time. A snack, free play (while I attempt dinner - usually it's more like I'm defending myself from a starving baby) and daddy comes home shortly after. Then it's all chaos - could be any number of things - outside, puzzles, finishing up any leftover crafts from the day, running around like a crazy man (and that's daddy), dinner, baby-time, reading, etc. Dinner, clean up, reading, tumbling, baths, night-night time (8:00-ish for Cassada, 9:00-9:30-ish for Ryan). We ALL clean up the house for 15 minutes-ish (this is new - I like it) and determine if we have any energy for projects (usually no). So, that is when I put together the next day's tray times and then get on the computer for more email time, blog time and reading other blogs for more tray time ideas. This is when Eric unwinds and watches TV. I used to knit or sew during this time - but it appears that HS research is now my new hobbie.

For Ryan's trays, I try to do a gross motor activity, a fine motor activity, a crafty-type activity, transferring activity, worksheet type thing (he seems to love to do those), a toddler-logic type thing and whatever else I want to throw in there. I also put out a puzzle on his table that hasn't seen love lately, a coloring sheet/book on his other table, a couple of books that may highlight something we've talked about recently or are just sitting on the shelf and haven't been read lately, a mental list of songs to try and sing the next day (there are thousands of songs out there that I forget about) and ideas to do if we do random outside time. I want to add a bible verse/toddler story into this equation somewhere - maybe a verse a week or something. I'm currently searching for a free online "curriculum" for that.

So, that is our day in a nutshell. Hope this helped anyone else out there wondering how other people "schedule" their days!