Today I am creating it because of how well our 'alone playtime' has been going at the Draper house
no her alone playtime does not take place on the train at the zoo...
Quick review of our scheduled routine evolution...
As an infant Mylin fell into a nice natural routine of beginning to sleep through the night (7-8 hours) around 2 1/2 months old.
This worked well for several weeks and then around 4-5 months old she began waking up again through the night and wanting to eat (when you nurse this is a simple solution and you are desperate to oblige - so then your infant gets used to that again!)
So, by 6 months we were back to a child not sleeping through the night :(
A few friends of mine really encouraged us to commit to sleep training her for 1 week
They promised us that if we committed to it for a week it would work!
And what did we have to lose?
She was already keeping us up and getting us up...if it didn't work we wouldn't be any worse off!
So we did the sleep training and it worked in like 4 days!
It was bliss!
At 6 months of age she began sleeping 12-14 hours every night!
We had to re-do some of it and modify this when we transitioned her into her big girl bed
Her naps have become shorter - going from about 3 hours to 1 1/2 each day
(Currently we are exploring/evaluating her diet and also sleeping for naps in the pack-n-play to see if that makes any changes on her amount of sleep each day)
Going into my 3rd trimester with Sullivan I began to get worn out physically and emotionally
We tried to institute alone playtime again (we had tried several times in the past few months) and it finally worked like a charm!
In the mornings Mylin has 30- 45 minutes of alone playtime in her bedroom
This consists of a cd playing and her gate up on the doorway
She is free to do whatever she wants in there (read books, play with toys, take a short nap, or stand at her door and talk to me)
She doesn't cry, and will often shut her door for some privacy :)
This part of our day gives me an opportunity to do some chores (so at naptime I can sleep!), spend one-on-one time with Sully (if he is awake), make phone calls, or write blogs like this one!
I am so thankful to the friends that have encouraged the schedules and routines and have answered our questions about them when we are frustrated, discouraged, and in need of encouragement and thinking outside the box!
What are your routines/schedules like with your kids?!
I would love to have some new ideas!!!
If you are interested in learning more about schedules/routines for your kids, let me know and I can get you in touch with my gurus ;)
Routines have been a lifesaver in our home as well! Since the boys are old enough to forgo naps we still do "quiet time" where they are in their room. They look forward to this time as much as I do! We also have a wii time so they aren't asking for it all day. That time comes strategically while I'm making dinner for peace and quiet. :) However, it will soon change when I start implementing they help with the dinner preps for training purposes. Oh, the other huge thing I did was train them to not "wake up" until 7am. If they wake prior to that time they can quietly play in their room. That rule is still implemented now since I have an early riser.
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