Whew. I can feel the beginning of the school year bearing down on me like a freight train. It's coming, and I know I'll be grabbing hold only to be slung around until after Christmas time. I can't believe I even mentioned the word Christmas. Shew.
I have been thinking a lot about all that this year will hold, and the best way to tackle it in order to keep at least of shred of sanity for all of us. The word that comes to mind is DISCIPLINE. Oh discipline, how you mock me. I'm going to have to keep myself and the kids fairly regimented (while trying to keep grace, fun, and spontaneity in there too!) In reality, the kids are sort of naturally regimented as it is. I, on the other hand, notsomuch. Especially not this summer. I'll admit. It's been pretty nice to not decide what I'm doing until the last minute, and change plans, and be lazy. This is not my normal attack on life at all. But I think I just needed a minute of being type B, you know?
But. My minute is up.
The first thing on the list is a schedule. This summer I have laid in bed every morning until the very last minute. And on days when we don't have summer school kids, the last minute = however long Emily can stand being in her crib entertained by Drew. Poor Drew. He's been in charge of his own breakfast many mornings. Today he had pretzels. Yep. Pretzels. I opened the bag with one eye open and promptly handed them to him. And then I closed the one eye and went back to sleep. Kinda makes you wish you were my kid, huh??
So, my goal for the school year is to get up and be ready before the kids get up. Let me just say this: not excited. This also means I'm going to have to make myself go to bed at some sort of decent time. In the past this has not been a problem for me as I was always asleep by 10:00 at the latest. But this summer I've just relished the night time so much. There are books to be read, and shows to watch, and pictures from the internet to pin to a pretend bulletin board. Sigh. There are just not enough hours in the day. Sadly, I am not one of those people who can thrive on 5-6 hours of sleep. I've tried many times to be, and it never works and usually results in my getting sick. Lame. So early to bed and early to rise and all that jazz.
The second thing on the list is meal planning. Just recently I let go of this weird expectation I had on myself that dinner had to be something fancy. Why would I have this expectation when I have a preschooler and a toddler?? No idea, but I did. I've let it go and resorted to serving things that are simple and my kids like. I try to give them something new every once in a while. Still, it helps to have things written down at the start of the week. I need to do this for breakfast and lunch on school days as well.
The third thing is keeping our things organized. I have no doubt I'll start the year off with a bang in this department. The discipline will be in keeping up with the system and making sure things stay tidy. The rubber will hit the road on this one around the end of October. Keep your eye on me. I'm a mess.
I have all sorts of lists and things running around in my head constantly right now. As I've mentioned, not a ton of time to get them down on paper. It will have to happen soon, though, or my head might explode, which really isn't going to be helpful.
The new regimen starts Monday. I know I'm going to need some practice before the curtain rises.
No comments:
Post a Comment