SAHMs of toddlers - Do you have a daily routing?

[jabberwocky]

Lately I've been feeling that I just muddle through the day with ds2. Just wondering how the really organized mums do it

"routine"

typing and bfing just don't mix...

do you go to toddler groups?
i try to get out of the house as much as possible - so on a nice sunny day the park, feed the ducks etc, or go to Toddlers in the morning and have a friend round in the afternon like today

At that age just a trip to the supermarket is exciting though...

I suppose I have a fairly relaxed sort of routine. I do much the same as posieflump - try and get out nearly every day, usually fairly early.

I have a loose one. Meals and snacks are roughly same time each day, i make sure we're washed and dressed by 10am at latest. Playgroup every Wednesday.Other than that i just wing it- all depends on the kids moods and the weather really!

Sort of.

Up, dressed and out of the house to do something in the morning:

Monday - varies. Usually meet friends at a playground or soft play place or farm or go shopping etc
Tuesday - Tots group
Weds - Jungle Gym
Thurs - Swimming
Fri - Music group

Then either lunch out or home for lunch.

Nap (hopefully)

In the afternoons we tend to either meet up with friends for coffee and a play (either invite someone over or go to theirs), or take the dog to the park, or just play at home together - jigsaws or painting or tents or something, or she plays with her toys while I potter.

Actually, now I've written it down, that seems like more of a routine than I thought we had. I am quite happy to spend time at home with nothing much to do once in a while, but I'd go a bit potty if we had nothing to do all week. It feels good to have a reason to get up and dressed.

Not a f/t SAHM, but the days I look after DS I make sure we get out of the house, preferably in the morning, usually to the park

Sort of. We tend to go out in the morning, and DS usually has his nap at approx the same time each day. But other than that we are dependent on the school run only, everything else is fluid.

Um not a routine other than ds wakes me up at the same time every morning

I find that the routine just sort of makes itself up -

6.30 am (ouch painful) woken by 3 year old alarm clock, slowly drag myself out of bed

7-8 eat breakfast (I drink copious amounts of coffee, wash and dress

(3 mornings a week = nursery so leave at 8.30 - I take the dog so he gets a walk)

Non nursery mornings - go to park with dog rain or shine, do drawing, read books (potter the morning away)

12 ish HAVE lunch

Try to put exhausted ds down for a story and nap by 1 ish (where he is now)

2-3pm ds wakes, has snack then we either play outside, or go and get groceries or something fascinating like that, or ds plays with toys.

Just after 5 pm - ds chooses a dvd to watch in the sitting room, where he (sort of) stays while I cook dinner.

6pm - tv off, dinner at table (I eat with him if dh is going to be really late, or I sit with him and chat)

7.30 - 8 pm dh gets home from work, we eat and ds sits with us or runs around the table talking with us and playing with toys.

DH does bath, bed and storytime to bond with his son and give me some respite.

This is an average day (some days are not like this at all). I like a bit of (flexible) routine or I'd go insane! But that is just me.

not sure i count, as i have both a toddler and a baby, so day is broken up quite a bit

ds1 (2.8yo) no longer naps, but his brother does, so we still have a day broken in two

mornings we tend to toddler groups and other organised stuff

home for lunch, and for ds2 to sleep, me to MN, ds1 to stare at the tv

out again in the afternoon for pottering type stuff - feeding the ducks, maybe a train ride into town, walk into the village

home by 4

oh yes, playdates. afternoons. maybe 2 a week

Routine :

Wake up
Have breakfast
Get dressed
Take older kids to school
Come back home (maybe via shops)
Lunch
Collect older kids from school
Tea
Bed

Once a week go and visit friends (with no other children)
Very occasionally do something else.

We're both very happy with our routine

Before nursery started did do activities like Tots group, toddler gymnastics and a music group - they tended to be morning activities so are great for getting a routine started.

Find what is going on locally for you outside of the house - some local councils organise all sorts of stuff, local swimming pools have toddler swim times/lessons etc. Really getting out is the key to maintaining sanity if at home with small children (and it is good for them too, they meet lots of different children and start the process of socialising!)

Up between 5.30-7am dependent on when DC decide "morning is here"
Up dressed and breakfast by 8.30
Playschool 2 mornings a week
other mornings i do chores while they wreck the house behind me.
Late morning go out( shops, park, see a friend)
Lunch
Structured crafty activity(paint, playdough, sand, glueing)
late afternoon TV and play in front room while I do meal
All eat dinner together at 6
Bath and bed with story at 7.30
7.31 pour myself a large glass of wine.

This was our routine (ds 21 months) before late pregnancy inertia and laziness kicked in:

6.30-7 get up. Breakfast for ds, then for me. Ds pootles about whilst I have mine.

8-9.30 shower and dress. Get ds dressed. Walk dog.

10-12/12.30 - go somewhere.
Monday - art class
Tues - mother and toddler gp
Wed - shopping, park, farm, or other trip
Thurs - mother and toddler gp
Friday - food shopping (and mw for the past umpteen weeks)

12.30-2.30 - lunch, ds naps

2.30-4ish - play in garden, craft activity, cooking, get ds to 'help' clean house, read stories, etc. Swimming one afternoon a week with cousins.

4-5 - ds entertains himself, I laze around reading the paper and watching Deal or No Deal

5-6 - cook for ds, he eats (or not), tidy kitchen

6-7 - bath, stories, bed

This will all go pear-shaped when number 2 finally arrives.

well do play doh in morning snack at about 10.30

leave him to own devises toys etc

lunch 12-12.30

drawing painting teddy bear picnic
after lunch

leave him to own devises playing with trains watching pingu or thomas

read him a story

take him for a walk to see trains generally do this twice a day after snack and around 2-3

i'll prepare dinner around 4-5 hell eat dinner 5.30

hours quiet time soft play no running around pop to bed around 7

forgot we get up around 6-7 breakfast 8-8.30

ditto bluebutterfly's day. would go nuts without routine, both of us. helps us know what is coming up, lets me work on autopilot if needed. makes weekends and different days so much more special.

both of us = me and ds

Used to be better at getting out and about but now have 5 month old Dd too so weather not great for getting out.
Hopefully come spring will get out lots in the morning(between 5 month olds naps)
He has playschool 2 mornings a week and I try to meet up for playdates another 2 mornings or have his friends around...I suppose i'm winging it at the mo!

There is not much choice in toddler groups around here, I'm afraid. I work 2 days a week and Kindermusik is on one of those unfortunately.

There are some great ideas here!

We have started a sort of craft group among a select group of friends, so we take it in turns to go to each other's houses and think up a crafty type activity to do. Currently it's on a Friday afternoon and rather ummm fluid.

We have a toddler group / music group / activity to go to every day and meet friends for lots of afternoons. We also have a mobile library on a Wednesday, so we try to get out to visit that. Swimming Friday morning as there's nothing else on. Mondays after toddlers we meet up with DH for lunch in town.

DS doesn't sleep (ever!) so I would actually welcome more to do that's structured in the afternoons, as I hate just pottering. But DS likes it I suppose.

Pottering activities are lego, Playdough, computer (starfall.com and poissonrouge.com sometimes pbskids used to do Kneebouncers) copious amounts of reading and singing, and me cajoling DS to go to the swings every ten minutes because I think it's good for him and he enjoys it when he gets there. Oh and the bloody hoovering which DS adores. Painting, sticking, gluing etc. etc. Sand table in garden gets used in all weathers.

Get up is currently any time after 4am and bed between 6.30 and 8pm. We all eat dinner together at 6ish and DS helps me prepare it in the afternoons.

2 manic boys - 5 yrs & 14 months

7am - Get up, breakfast, dressed etc

8.15 - walk 5 yr old to school

9.30 ish - Snack, then go out somewhere with 14 month old. Either for long walk, toddler group, B&Q or Homebase (It's weird but he loves the big superstores! Great if it's raining and you want to just mooch up and down the aisles), friend's houses. Anywhere, but just have to get out of the house or we both go crazy.

11.45 - lunch

12.30 - nap for an hour or 2

3pm - pick up 5 yr old from school

3.45. - Snack then play something or watch tv while I attempt to do something above the horrendous noise levels

5pm - tea

6.30 pm - 'The arsenic hour' - getting them ready for bed, stories etc

7.30 - collapse in a heap on sofa in front of tv with food

shala, you're situation is the closest to mine. Ds1 is 4.6 and ds2 is 14 months. I think the mornings are the hardest. We just put our house on the market and are moving in May (regardless of if it is sold by then or not). So part of the problem right now is keeping the house orderly in case someone wants to look at it, packing if I can sneak in a box or two, and keeping ds2 safe as he is currently climbing all over the place. As soon as I get one area ds2-proofed he figures out another method. Ds1 was not like this so I'm having a hard time adjusting to it.

"your"

Here's our 'routine'

Up (me & DS)
Shower (me)
Breakfast
Out somewhere (see below)
Lunch
Nap (DS)
DS plays with mindees (4 afternoons a week)
Dinner
Bath
Bed

Morning activities

Tues & Thursdays are fixed - the other 3 days we do different things each week

Monday - Trip to museums* (Free on Mondays), zoo, grocery store/ Target or play at home
Tuesday - Music class
Wednesday - Story time @ book store, community playroom, baking, playdate or play at home
Thursday - Playgroup
Friday - swimming, grocery store, museum or trip further afield (big zoo, outdoor botanic gardens etc)

In the summer we go to the park several times a week.

Museums include: Museum of Science and Industry, Children's museum, Nature museum, Zoo, Art Institute, downtown parks, Aquarium, Natural History Museum, Planetarium, History Museum, Indoor botanic Gardens (there are 2 in the city)