I am a man of routines.
Nicholas, because he is very much my son, is a little boy of routines.
This has made the last few weeks an interesting experience for the two of us (and no picnic for Sarah), and my return from the high-flying business traveler world a bit bumpy. Each time I've come home from a trip, he's been happy to see me, but I think this last trip did him in a little bit. Sarah left him with me yesterday to go to an Ash Wednesday service, and instead of a "yay, Daddy time!" response, I got the tears and sobbing that usually accompany leaving him with a babysitter. He still thinks I'm fun, of course, but it may take him a little while to re-adjust to having me around instead of Mommy. I've got him all day tomorrow, though, so he may have to re-adjust fast!
Meanwhile, I'm trying to re-adjust to the routines of life as well. In particular, I need to learn the rituals and preparations associated with day care. He started at the beginning of February, and since then, I've either been away or Baltimore has been under a massive snow/blizzard/"Snowmaggedon" warning (in which case day care is closed). So I really have no idea what he has to take with him to the center, other than that he needs food and some bottles. Sarah seems to have come up with a very good system, but she's already got it figured out so smoothly that I'm having to play a lot of catch-up just to get the hang of what he takes, what gets left there, when things come home, and so on. I'll get it, of course. And now I have the feeling that once Sarah reads this I'm going to be put in charge of getting his stuff ready for day care until I've internalized it, but so be it. I should learn, right?
Anyway, I guess the point of the post is that I've been thinking about routines a lot recently, largely because we haven't had any. The two storms, and the trips I've taken in the last three weeks, have thrown all of us just a little out of whack (okay, some of us more than a little [raises hand sheepishly]). But we'll get it back, or create new routines, or whatever it takes.
By the way, if anyone is curious, I'm home now basically for good (I think), and will not have any news to report on the trips for some time.
We didn't discover the glory of routines until Abby was about 11 months old - makes a world of difference.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the daycare sort - it can be hard.
I wouldn't claim that we have a formal "routine" just yet (and I hope it didn't sound like that in the post!), but Nicholas has definitely figured out when things are "normal" and when they're not. Sarah has noted that he now brings her over to the couch when he's hungry, because that's where he eats. And last night he was very upset when I tried to feed him his jars before he'd nursed (Sarah was out), because he was worried he might not get to nurse.
ReplyDeleteActually, Sarah's even noticed that his cries are different in the middle of the night versus in the morning, because she gets him at night, and I usually do his wake-up routine. The child notices patterns, I guess is what I'm trying to say. But yeah, still working on a routine. Unless Sarah figured out one while I was gone and didn't tell me . . .