On Rhythm and Routine

As you may have seen while visiting here, over the last few weeks I've been really struggling to establish some sort of daily rhythm in our lives to help us all achieve the best of our abilities. It's been hard with all of the moving around here and there that we've done (I know, blah, blah, blah) but I think I have finally wrapped my mind around what it is I really want to achieve through a good solid routine.

What I want:

• My children to get more sleep
• ME to get more sleep
• Well prepped mornings that run smoothly (and preferably don't involve me running around searching for missing shoes, last minute lunch prep, or forgetting to pack Nate's teddy for "bring your stuffed friend to school " day- yes, it's true, I did forget-awful, isn't it?!
• Scheduled/routine learning time for the kids each day
• Scheduled/routine house-hold maintenance for me each day
• Less TV for the kiddos
• More creative time for all of us
• Quieter, more relaxing evening ritual time (no more crazy, hollering, splashing bath times!)
• Evening time for Pete and I-alone (could this ever be accomplished?!)
• Less anxiety each day over unmet expectations- I thought it was your night to give the kids a bath!
• Giving the kids a positive, predictable, secure, dependable day- each day, so that one day soon, they can feel comfortable establishing their own independent routines.

A few weeks ago, I came across this Waldorf inspired post about bedtime rituals (geared toward children). So I decided to take a leap and put an earlier bedtime to the test. The result:

My children have been in bed, stories read, prayers said, hugs given, by 7 pm each night (more or less). And amazingly they are still waking at their normal times (Nate: 7 am, Juliana: 4 am-okay, just kidding! But she is usually up around 6 am or so).

Wow.

• More sleep for the kids- check
• More evening time for Pete and I, alone- check
• More time the night before to prep for mornings- check
• Quieter bedtime rituals- check
• On our way to creating those dependable and oh so valuable rhythmic days- check!

We're getting there...

What successes, big or small, are you feeling these days?