project 52:17 - routine

It starts when they are babies as a schedule...then moves into routines...and becomes what?  Habits?  We work to shape the days into some semblance of normalcy, trying to make patterns, rhythms to each day, so that little bodies are comforted, learning what to expect next.


It is in my very nature to fight & resist routines & schedules-I find myself dreading whatever chore is assigned to a certain day just because it happens on the same day every week!  But, the more I figure out these kids...and this one in particular...the more I discover how they crave predictability.  He feels more secure when he knows that I'll be making scones every Saturday morning or that tonight was pizza night...or that Monday is his pj day and that we will go to church on Sunday and every night we will read from Ramona.  


One afternoon routine we've had for a long time is after he gets home from school, we snuggle on the couch & watch tv.  We have decided that tv is not what this active little body needs (or any of the kids actually) & have cut it out, expecting him to burn off energy instead, and as a result, we've had to change up our afternoons.  It took several days of complaining & whining (on both our parts because what momma can resist snuggling with her sweet boy?) but we now have a new routine.  He loves to help cook in the kitchen-we make snacks for when Macy gets home or start on supper, & he is my taste-tester, stirrer, pourer, & even slicer.  And, I have found, that even better than snuggling up & getting to smell his sweet little head is the conversations we get to have.  Well...maybe not better but just as good!