Please talk me through a typical day with your one-year-old

[JumpingIn]

I'm mostly wondering what ratio of independent play vs structured play you're doing with them. I'm wondering if I'm working harder than I need to with Zach, how Icould break up our days better and what other people's experiences are.

So here's a typical day for us:

Between 6 and 7- Up, dressed, we play chase or peekaboo upstairs for a bit
7.30ish- breakfast (we eat together mostly but if I finish first I do a bit of washing up while he finishes)
8-8.30- We do structured play. I do activities with him like looking through books and naming things or singing/playing instruments, jigsaws etc
8.30- Milk
8.35-9- I try to leave the room more and leave him to his own devices so I can get something done like laundry. Sometimes this goes ok but mostly he follows me and moans or even cries until I play with him again
9-9.30-I put the TV on so I can finish my jobs in peace. He watches and plays happily
9.30- Nap until around 10.30/11. I use this time to clean ams make my phone calls and pack a bag ready to take him out in the afternoon.

11-11.30 lunch. We eat together and I clean up as I go
11.30-2.30- I take Zach out to a group or soft play or to meet friends etc. We live about 25 minutes from civilisation and he cries and moans the entire journey and I sing songs like a mad woman all the way. We do snacks and milk while we're out
2.30-3.15- Nap on the drive home

3.15-6 - Pretty much the same as the morning. Sometimes I'll take him out in the pram for a walk or to the park just to break this time up a bit. I introduce new toys or try a new activity. If the weather's good we play in the garden. I leave him to play independently as much as I can but he doesn't last very long before coming to find me and crying. We do his "dinner" at around 4.30. By around 5.30 the TV goes on again just to give me a "rest" so I can do more housework.

6-6.15-Bath time
6.15-6.40- pjs, lullabies, milk, story and bed

9.30pm- Zach wakes if I haven't given him a dream feed by this point

Through the night- Wakings vary. Sometimes none, sometimes a few, sometimes every 2 hours.

I feel like the days we spend together are very full-on and for some reason neither of us are satisfied with this routine anymore. Please share what your days look like for comparison!

 

[Button#]

Wake between 5am and 6am because she is evil!

Downstairs milk and play with Daddy. He reads to her and takes her round with him while he gets breakfast and packed lunch ready for DS.

7.30 she jumps on DSs bed squealing to wake him up

7.40 breakfast

8.10 get dressed and brush teeth. She then is left to her own devices while I get DS ready.

8.55 pop her in a sling and walk to pre school to drop off DS. Nap en route.

9.30 drop off DS and go to playgroup or a friends house. At both we have a mixture of playing with (refereeing!) the kids and letting them play while we have a cup of tea.

12 head home for lunch.

1pm we play with toys, read books, do puzzles.

2pm leave to pick up DS from pre school. Nap en route.

3.15pm get home, she wakes up some time between now and 3.30pm.

3.30pm milk, snacks and I get a cup of tea. They play together and I'll read her books or play as requested or she'll play on her own.

4.30 I start cooking so she either sits in the high chair with some toys or if OH is home he'll play and read to them.

5.45 tea

6.30 upstairs, teeth, bath

7pm milk and cuddle for bed.

She wakes up several times in the night at the moment and ends up in my bed from about 11ish.

 

[JumpingIn]

Thanks Button, it sounds like our routines are quite similar. Unfortunately I don't really get any help from my husband during the week as he works really long hours. I work weekends so he gets daddy time then. But rarely both of us together!

I'm finding fitting in housework, admin tasks etc pretty difficult...probably the time we spend driving isn't helping as if I could just nip to a friend's house or playgroup it would give us an extra hour a day!

I wish he would still nap in his pram but he mostly stopped this a couple of months ago and will only sleep in a cot or the car. I can't wear him for naps any more, he's too heavy for long walks.

I think things may improve once he starts nursery and we don't have 5 solid days a week just me and him (or friends if we're willing to make the car journey) so the time we do have at home will be more interesting to him.

I mix things up all the time and the amount of toys we have is insane but he still seems a lot happier at other people's houses or at groups!

Good to get an insight into your routine. Anyone else care to share?

 

[Rainbow82]

Wake up somewhere between 4:30 and 6 and have a cup of milk
6:30 breakfast
7:00 peppa pig on tv while I get us all dressed.
7:30-8 plays on the floor while I finish getting ready hair makeup etc
8:30 take OH to work and go to tumble tots or soft play.
9-11 soft play/ tumble tots and snack
11:15-12:30 nap
12::30-1 wake up and have songs and nursery rhymes and a story
1:00 lunch
1:30 play time together racing cars, turning him round every time he crashed his push along into something, stacking cups, stacking rings, blocks, piano etc.
3:00 independent play and snack while I have a cuppa or go to the park. Independent play isn't actually independent and usually involves him standing at the sofa passing me cups to drink out of and phones to speak to him in but st least I'm in the sofa not the floor, he will play in the floor fir a bit by himself but usually it involves pulling all the DVDs out or chasing the cat or dog or trying to climb over the baby gate. On a good day his piano can keep him occupied for 15 mins though.
4:00 nap time
5 on wake up and sit in highchair colouring or painting etc while I cook dinner.
6:00 dinner and play with OH
7:00 bath, story and bed
7:30-8 sleep
10:00 sometimes still wakes for a quick feed.
Overnight occasionally sleeps through but usually up 2+ times.

 

[DaisyDreamer]

Is there a way to set him up to play where ever you are doing chores so he knows where you are? So maybe you're commenting on his play and he can see you, but you are getting laundry folded and he's still "left to his own devices".

 

[Zephram]

You sound like you're doing great, I really wouldn't stress about it or over think it. Like PP said, one thing to do is bring him around with you while you get stuff done. Put a little bucket of toys together and take it and him around with you room by room as you do chores. Get him involved in what you're doing, too, sit him in the laundry basket with the clean clothes and pull him along the floor like a sled to where you're going to fold, for example. Play peekaboo with the clothes while you fold them, etc.

Sometimes you just have to get stuff done and he might be grizzly while you do it, but that's just life! When you have more than one kid one or other of them always has to wait and amuse themselves while you do something for the other or cook dinner, etc. My 10 month old is left to his own devices a lot more than my eldest ever was, because I didn't have another child to attend to as well, and they are both turning out just fine. You are doing a great job, stress less.