a day in the [young preschooler] mom life

I came across my previous "day in the life" posts and had such fun reading through them, remembering what those earlier stages of Hendrik-hood (and pre-parenthood!) were like, that I thought I'd better do another one, for memory's sake. This time we're calling it the "young preschooler" era, since Hendrik will quickly correct you on his status in the (daycare) world if you try to call him a toddler.

2:30 - (yes, 2:30am) wake up to Hendrik yelling about needing his blankets put back on, and then lay awake listening to the poor kid cough for a long time.

5:50 - Peter's alarm goes off and I (lovingly?) nudge him out of bed so I can spread-eagle across the mattress for a few minutes until it's time for mine.

6:00 - officially wake up and drag myself out of bed (not easy after last night), pull on some workout clothes (no thinking involved), and head down the hall to my office to get started on work for the day. I really like working in this quiet, dark time - it feels so productive. Plus sometimes I get to see some spectacular sunrises out my office window.

7:10 - Hendrik announces he's awake, i.e., shouts "I have to go pee!" at the top of his lungs, so I get him to the bathroom and then dressed, and make our beds, because having made-up beds makes me happy.

7:30 - send Hendrik and Peter out the door for school (daycare) and work and sit back down to work some more myself.

8:00 - make a quick eggs + sausage breakfast for me and the standard dog food one for Ginger while I get some more emails done.

8:30 - take Ginger for a quick walk. On the days I have a babysitter I usually go to the gym in the morning, since I have childcare for longer into the afternoon, but school pickup comes quickly on Thursdays so if there's a lot of work to be done, I change up the routine.

9:00 - work, work, work.

12:00 - refer to my Cladwell app for a quick outfit idea (so handy!), run the straightener through my hair, and slap on some makeup.

12:15 - time to pick up Hendrik from school. We do a couple of quick errands on the way home - often some grocery shopping, but today a stop at the drycleaners and the bank.

1:00 - playroom time. This is almost always Duplos, but this day Hendrik decides to shake things up and gets out the race track + Matchbox cars.

1:30 - while Hendrik is occupied, I pop into the kitchen for some lunch and maybe read some blogs while I'm at it.

1:45 - potty break...one requiring a book and some time.

2:15 - take Hendrik upstairs to do the nap routine - which is no longer a nap aside from about once a week - of two books + two songs. I set his light-up clock for 1/2 hour and tell him he's allowed to yell when, and only when, it turns green ("quiet time" has been a struggle lately). Back downstairs to work on editing a manuscript while he's in bed.

3:00 - the yells of "my bug clock is on!" begin, so I go up to get Hendrik a stack of books and then get to do a little reading myself while he pages through his. If he actually falls asleep for a nap then I get a bit more time to read, work on a blog post, or catch up on the DVR.

3:30 - get Hendrik up and notice that the laundry baskets are somehow overflowing again, so I have him help me collect dirty clothes and throw in a load of laundry.

4:00 - head to the gym, where Hendrik plays in the kid's club and I go to one of my current favorite classes, which is a mix of yoga, pilates + stretching. I did spinning yesterday, so this is a good next-day activity.

5:15 - I know it's going to be a late day for Peter in the operating room, so we make a stop at the library on the way home. Our library has such a nice, light-filled upstairs kids department, so we both like hanging out here reading books and playing with the train table.

6:00 - sit Hendrik on the couch with his current favorite on Amazon Prime video (Bob the Builder, ugh) and feel no shame in it because (a) I just read him 10 books at the library, and (b) making dinner is so much more enjoyable in peace and quiet. Tonight I'm trying a new recipe from Pinterest.

6:45 - usually we're able to sit down at the table all together by about 6:15-6:30 but today we eat in shifts at the counter because Hendrik's hungry and Peter's really stuck at work late.

7:15 - Peter and Hendrik usually head off to play some Legos while I finish cleaning up after dinner and get some other things done (such as, oh yeah! I started a load of laundry...better go put it in the dryer).

7:45 - I join in playtime. Sometimes lately Hendrik and I have been sitting down at the piano together, which is double fun because I'm hanging out with him, plus I get to brush up on some stuff I haven't played in a long time.

8:00 - I get the bedtime routine started with potty, pjs, and teeth brushing, and then Peter comes up to read books.

8:15 - put my feet up to read my own book for a while until Peter comes back down!

9:00 - sit with Peter in the living room to catch up, and also catch up on our DVR - during which I'm pretty much always multi-tasking: folding the laundry, working on some blog stuff, commenting on Currently linkup posts.

10:00 - get ready for bed and fall asleep hoping for a less cough-filled night for all of us!


The days vary a bit based on whether we have the nanny or Hendrik goes to school, and on whether I'm super busy or less so with work, but this recent Thursday is fairly typical, as much as a day can be with a 3-year-old, anyway...