Since Leah was a baby, I've been the routine mom who is adamant about nap time. I mean, we get home for naps. The girls need their sleep, and I need a break.
But, Gracie just doesn't need a nap like my big girls did. If she takes a nap, she's up forever at night, keeping Maggie awake which results in Maggie crying. Not.fun.
This does mean, though, that we can go places and not rush back right after lunch for a nap.
I almost don't know what to do with this kind of freedom!
I've been learning too, actually through a very helpful thread of facebook comments on a friend's status, that even though my girls aren't babies, they still thrive with routine, so I won't be giving that up altogether.
This morning, when the girls wake up, they will be greeted by FUN workbooks to do each day while I'm getting lunch ready. They will do these at the kitchen table where I can see them. I realized that I can't see much of the living room while I'm making a meal which was prime opportunity for bugging a sister. At this point, I need to be able to see them and encourage harmony :)
We are also having a morning routine. I have a little calendar for each week that I will fill out with their bathroom jobs and other things we're doing for the week.
Have I mentioned the amount of hair that ends up on our bathroom floor each day? It's remarkable. And not remarkable in a good way :)
So, each girl will have a job in the bathroom to do each morning, in addition to tidying their room and putting away clean laundry, which I might even have them fold. I want these things to be routine and have them not fight me on it. Let me rephrase that...have them not be over-dramatic about it; that's more accurate!
I'm hoping, too, that they days develop some sort of rhythm of playing outside in the morning (before it's hotter than sin, because apparently I think sin is represented by hot weather ;)), quiet rest time after lunch (I'm not ready to give up my break time), and going to the pool before supper.
I also want to have fun things sprinkled in to the week: picnic Tuesdays, crafts (this is what we're going to do this week; it will take several sittings), Aaron's softball games, "adventure hikes."
"Adventure hike" are in quotation marks, because to a true outdoors person, these are neither adventurous nor hikes, but we've never claimed to be hardcore around here :)
I want the girls to have time to explore the outside and have new opportunities to be creative and do things like this...
:)
This will also be the Summer of the Backpack.
I love my cute and functional 31 bags as much as the next midwestern suburban/small town mommy and mine will still get a lot of use, but even if they aren't necessarily cool, sometimes a girl just needs a backpack!
I'm a camp girl at heart, and I fell in love with my husband while wearing this very backpack, so it's even sentimental!
I've been a mom for long enough to know that I need to hold these desires lightly and be flexible, but I'm going to give it my best!
What is your summer looking like? How do you set the tone for your days?
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