Groove

One of the many (many) things I love about being a stay at home mom is that I have no non-voluntary deadlines. I'm the sole arbiter of our schedule. I'm accountable to no one but myself and my family and friends.

(I'm already mourning the end of this state of affairs when Jack starts kindergarten school next fall. If he misses a day, I actually have to produce a note from the doctor to "prove" that he is too sick to go to school. Really? I mean, I get it, but really?? He's MY child. I sort of feel like if I want to keep him out of school so that we can go to Disneyland or the zoo or even just stay home, I should be able to do that if I want to without having to ask anyone else's permission.

Rant over. :) )

All that being said, I admit that I do like a bit of structure to our weeks. It's taken us about a month to get back into a groove coming out of the holidays, but I think we have a pretty good schedule going right now.

Mondays: Jack has preschool in the morning, and Violet and I go to a friend's house to play with her kids while she volunteers at her older son's kindergarten. Jack has his piano lesson in the afternoon, after which we go to another friend's house to play.

Tuesdays: Lazy mornings usually spent watching TV, playing around, taking our time getting dressed and eating breakfast. Open gym at the local Y at noon. Lunch and a playdate with friends afterward.

Wednesdays: Another preschool day for Jack. Violet and I started this little Mommy and Me class in the morning. Jack has his golf lesson in the afternoon, after which we have Wine Wednesday and a playdate at a friend's house.

Thursdays: Our open day. Depending on our friends' availability, we may or may not get out to play in the morning. In the afternoon, we usually meet up with other friends at the park. And now T-ball practice is about to start in the late afternoons.

Fridays: Preschool for Jack, while Violet and I have a playdate with other preschool little sisters. Afternoons are usually open for either more playdates or just relaxing at home.

Saturdays: T-ball games in the morning and then Daddy time for the kids the rest of the day.

Sundays: Church in the morning, and more Daddy time the rest of the day.

On ideal days, Violet will take a nap between the morning and afternoon activities, but that doesn't always happen. We are lucky if she goes an hour, but lately it's been more like half an hour to 45 minutes (ugh). Sometimes she falls asleep on the way home from the afternoon playdates, which is not great. She usually wakes up from those late naps super grumpy, and then she won't go to bed until after 9 PM. I honestly think that she sleeps less than Jack on a lot of days.

Obviously, there is a lot of flexibility built into this schedule. We make adjustments for birthday parties, sick days, appointments, vacations, out-of-town visitors, etc. But in general, it's nice at least having an idea what we're going to do on any given day and with whom.

I was thinking aloud in the car with Jack the other day, looking ahead to the day when both kids are in school.

"What am I going to do with myself when you're in school and Violet is in preschool?" I mused.

"Maybe you can have some one-on-one Mommy Mommy time," Jack suggested. (He is always excited about the prospect of "one-on-one Jack and Mommy time" when Violet is napping, but I told him that sometimes I need to be by myself: "one-on-one Mommy Mommy time").

I told him that was a good idea, but secretly I was thinking how bittersweet it will be when both my babies are grown up enough to be away from me. Don't get me wrong, I am looking forward to more time to myself, but it's one of those things where I wish that I could take all this "togetherness" and this wanting to be around me constantly and spread it out over the next 18 years to cover the t(w)een-age years when they can't or won't want to be around me at all. Of course that's not possible so, for now, I'm really cherishing this time at home with them both.