It's a Twister!

This evening we had our first visit to the basement due to a tornado warning. No, we didn't really have a tornado, but isn't this a nice picture? It did put a kink in our new schedule a little bit, but not too badly. Well, this post is really about our new schedule, but tornadoes are much more interesting than schedules, so I thought I would start with that.

So anyway, I finally figured out a good schedule that is easy to follow! We are getting up, eating all of our meals, and sleeping at the same times everyday. It has been difficult to get it worked out because so often my mom's group meetings, la leche league, church, library programs, etc. start and end at such different times. We have been trying it since Monday, and so far so good. In reality, evening has always been the most difficult because Joseph is so adamant about not going to sleep. He just does not like it. And he never gets tired. Well, almost never. For a three year old, I think his lack of sleeping qualifies as never. Last week I tried letting him stay up until he wanted to go to sleep, just to see what would happen. Twice it was midnight before we went to bed, and on those days he had gotten up at 8:30 am and not really had a nap. Of course the next day he felt terrible, and my day was equally terrible. So, I decided something has to change, and it is really working! He still has been waking up at 8:30 in the morning (which, in my opinion, is a really good time,) but now he goes upstairs for quiet time at 8:00 in the evening, and we turn the lights out at 9:00. I tell him a Bread Story in the dark, and that really helps to get him to agree to go to bed.

Thankfully, we are also still taking a quiet time/ nap time in the afternoon. I finally figured out to send Joseph upstairs at 1:00 so that I can clean up the house, do the lunch dishes, and hang any laundry that I have waiting. It is so hard to get those things done with Joseph around when he is tired, and I really like to have those things done before resting in the afternoon. By sending Joseph upstairs early he also winds down a bit before I come upstairs with Tommy, and that makes it easier for the transition. He still doesn't always sleep, but now he is at least mostly quiet. Notice that with this whole schedule thing I haven't mentioned Tommy. That is because he is so easy and predictable! Every afternoon he falls asleep in the Ergo (a backpack bay carrier) at 1:00 and in the evening I give him a bath at 7:00, and most nights he falls asleep right after that. I guess these two boys balance each other out.