This morning we had a play date with Blair, James, and Hannah. Blair and I enjoy commiserating over our husbands’ struggles at Qualtrics and just talking in general. Blair is a nutritionist and gave me great advice for Clarissa’s constipation. Apparently, Clarissa is drinking way too much whole milk. We need to cut it back and or change over to two percent. That was so good to learn.
Ammon and I have been watching art history documentaries during Clarissa’s naps lately. Ammon fell asleep in the middle of learning about John James Audubon, and I fell asleep sometime in the middle of a Whistler documentary. When I woke up, I had no idea how to extricate myself from this comfy, warm situation without waking up Ammon. If there was a solution, I couldn’t find it. When I got up, Ammon woke up. On the upside, he was in a terrific mood for the rest of the day.
Then we got Clarissa and picked up Mary and Lydia from school. For the past little bit I have been developing a new technique to be efficient with our post-school afternoons. On the way home from school I drill the girls over and over on what they will do upon entering the house. I ask them if they have any questions approximately two million times, and then I answer whatever questions they have. I lay out the rewards and consequences for following or not following our afternoon routine, and then for good measure I have them recite their routines one more time each.
Then we come home, I run inside to get everything ready for them (e.g., I tune the harp, set up a show for Ammon, bring in stuff from the car, etc.), and then the minute they come in I set a timer for their reading. When that dings, I set a timer for their music. When that dings, they know they have until 5:30 (when Abe gets home) to finish their homework, pack their backpacks for the next day, and clean up any messes they made while doing homework. While they work, I clean the house, cook dinner, yell out practicing instructions, and answer homework questions. It’s actually really fun! Today I managed to make fettuccine alfredo with mushrooms, roasted broccoli, and an apple pie during this time. My goal is to be more available for practice, though, so in the future I want to somehow get dinner done either more quickly or ahead of time.
Honestly, I feel so slow. This routine feels so easy and insanely OBVIOUS. As in, I am sure every other mom on the planet has this figured out. Just tell the kids what they are doing before they enter the door!! But it’s taken me years to get to this place of an effective routine. YEARS.
I guess instead of beating myself up about that, I should just be grateful I figured it out at all.