Babywise & Beyond: How to Create a Toddler Schedule

Friday, February 7, 2014

In my house, schedule is king. I've written many posts on how our schedules help create such a great, easy-going, happy environment. Creating a schedule for my babies was easy to me. I researched a lot of sample schedules through this amazing blog. I also took into account my life and what would make me happy. The collection of sample schedules was awesome because it gave me a huge group to look at and pick and choose what I wanted to do. But, when my twins turned the corner into toddlerhood, it was difficult for me to figure out how to create a toddler schedule but more importantly, how to keep it with everything else going on in our lives.

When my twins turned one, it dawned on me that their lives needed enrichment. No longer was feeding, sleeping, changing their diapers and fulfilling out bedtime routine going to cut it. They needed attention and lots of it! And I just felt not ready for it. So, I do what I do best. I sat down at the computer and scoured the internet for what other toddler moms are doing. I took that and once again thought about my life and was able to meld the two ideas together to create our toddler schedule.

7:30am- I get the twins from their cribs, sometimes they've been awake for awhile, sometimes, they are just waking up, but either way, they stay in their cribs until 7:30am. I've learned to put one blanket and a book in their crib with them. This way if they do wake up, they have the book to check out while they wait.
8am- after changing their diapers and just playing for a bit, I get breakfast ready for them. I've always been a firm believer in making their food, I always made their baby food, but having 3 kids now, this was becoming much more difficult. Now my goal is to ensure they have something filling and some fruit! Look for a post later on my toddler meals!
8:30am- after breakfast, I let my kids literally run around. I close any doors and put up any baby gates to ensure that they are safe while letting them run around. I want to give them their freedom and I love to see them play and learn together (sometimes this can include stealing each others toys & lots of crying can follow, I try my best to let them work it out together)
9:30am- Books in Bed! around this time is when they start to get whiny, they are just now transitioning into 1 nap from 2 naps and it's been rough!! So, now, we've swapped out the nap with relaxing time in the crib. I actually put both twins in one crib and give them about 5 books. I make sure the blinds are open and the lights are on- that way they're not confusing this time with naptime (although Hudson PASSED OUT one time)
11am- out of the crib, I generally play a game with them or read to them or just let them do their thing while getting lunch ready- depending on what it is
11:30am-lunch time! because of my hard effort in creating homemade baby food for them with spices and herbs, I think they are much better eaters now. Adam and I are such picky eaters and I didn't want that for them! Just last night, they ate tilapia, corn, & quinoa.
12pm- after lunch it's right to nap time for them, because of the transition they are ready to crash!
3:15pm- wake up time! if I'm lucky, which usally I am, they will take a 2.5-3 hour nap. This was absolutely due to the strict babywise scheduling we did when they were younger
3:30pm- after diaper changes, we're going to be doing some sort of project. The twins used to entertain themselves most of the day, but they've become bored with their toys, our house, each other, etc. I was given this Kitchen Tower as a gift for the twins and I absolutely love it. Because of it, we've been able to make, make pasta from scratch and avoid meltdowns when I'm cooking dinner! (they watch when I put them in it)
5:30pm- dinner time/bathtime!
by 7pm- bedtime, I wrote by 7pm because, let's be real, if they're extremely whiny or tired, they're going in ASAP!

So there you have it- my toddler schedule! Hope you're able to use this and work it into your life! And remember a schedule is there to serve YOU, not so you can serve IT!