Quiet Time?

I think quiet time has officially started and I am safe to post. I have been trying for the last hour to get everyone settled. Mikayla is currently sleeping beside me, it is quiet in Caileigh's room and I can hear the clinking of lego from Aiden. The older two know that they dont have to sleep, but they must stay in their rooms for an hour. Aiden loves quiet time and starts asking for it around 11. Caileigh tolerates quiet time and usually falls asleep. It is nice to have this time to regroup, have a coffee, putter.......or whatever.




The time of day that is a struggle in our house is between 4-6. Because the kids are up so early, they are usually pretty close to being done around this time. There are many meltdowns and the kids seem to struggle too. There is dinner, bath and all the other important things to take care of. Aiden has been begging to go to bed at 5:30 so it is a challenge to keep them occupied, rather than tearing each other apart. One thing that seems to be working, is having them help with getting dinner on the table. Aiden helps with chopping veggies, Caileigh gets out the condiments and they both help set the table. It is actually a huge help because I usually only have one free arm and it frees me up. I hope that this continues to work well. I know that Aiden thrives on being helpful. He was picking toys up off the floor today (of his own choice) and was telling me that he loves things to be tidy. He also loves to organize! Hmmmm, I wonder where he got that from. Makes my heart swell!

*Update on the sleep chart. It is basically going well. Yesterday the kids were up at 5:30 but stayed up stairs playing until 6:30. Today they both came down at 5:30 and struggled to stay upstairs until 6:15. I am going to go to step B and try the "Alarm Clock", idea. I have heard that it works well because when the alarm goes off, the kids know when they can come down. I will let you know how it goes, but give me time to actually find an alarm clock. Oh and I dont think Mikayla understands the whole chart idea. She is still waking up every 2-3 hours. She is, however, falling into a daytime pattern of sleep and awake time. We have even seen her first smiles and I am just working on catching it on camera.



Her favorite place to sleep during the day. Nestled in her sling.