Last year might have been the craziest of all tho. First of we bought a house with land. Then this new old house of ours needed so much work that we spent 10 months to renovate the whole thing top to bottom (actually we are still doing some work in the yard and will be finishing up the master bathroom in a month or so). Then in the mist of all that I had my second baby. Then a month before we moved into the new house my big baby girl started preschool. After a long long wait, we finally moved in just before Thanksgiving, but there were still finishing touches needed to be finish and so we lived in the reno with a preschooler and a baby for a month. After all that and all the crazy unpacking (I single handedly unpack the four of us so life can be normal again in 3 weeks!) it was Christmas and birthdays and the New Years. Needless to say life was all over the places in 2015. And it has been extra tough with two young children in all of that craziness.
While in college I studied Early Childhood Education and one of the things I've learn through school and experience working with young children is that they need a routine. They LOVE routines. When everyday is done the same way and it's predictable for them, they are happier. That's because they know whats coming, they feel safe, and they are not overwhelmed. And that's what's been lacking in my life. A routine, a schedule.
So after my sister and her family left from their visit just a week before Valentine's day, I sat down with my no-napping preschooler at her art table one afternoon and we discussed and drew out a daily schedule. Now you see, I have tried to implement a schedule with her before this day. But somehow, every time a schedule is set, a few days later it would fall apart and chaos would resume. I'd have to keep reminding her the schedule I've planned for her and she would constantly get distracted from it. Then I realized what she needed was a visual cue, a visualized schedule that she can understand and follow and that is why we spent that afternoon making one of our own. It was simple and easy to follow. We talked about it as we made it and talked about it some more after it's done. We don't always follow it to the tee, especially on the weekend when there's no school or if we've got some special plans. It's like a guideline for us for our day. And it turns out, the schedule isn't only great for her but for me too. Life is finally getting a little bit easier ... for now.