Eddie at 25 Months: Morning Routine

I seem to be completely incapable of getting Eddie to daycare earlier than 9am. He's signed up for "full time" daycare/preschool so technically we are paying for him to be there from 8am-6pm. But that's crazy: no way am I going to sacrifice that much of my day to be without him and no way am I even able to get him there that early!

The minutes in the morning seem to fly by. The only solution is to wake him up earlier in the morning...but I don't really like waking him up. I prefer to let him wake up naturally so he's in a better mood. And it reinforces that he doesn't need Mama right when he wakes up. Most mornings he chatters, sings, and plays in his crib until I go in and get him. I like his independence in that way.

• 6:30am: my alarm goes off
• 6:45am: I get up, make the bed, feed the dogs, start the coffee, etc.
• 7:15-7:20am: I emerge dressed and teeth-brushed from the bathroom after a shower
• 7:20am: I set up our breakfast (eggs on counter, butter in frying pan, water and oats in pot, etc.) and pack the bike trailer with our stuff (diaper bag, stuff to mail, my backpack)
• 7:35am (sometimes as late as 7:50am): Hear Eddie on the monitor, finish up whatever task I'm doing before I get him up and change his diaper (may or may not convince him to change into clothes yet)
• Between7:40am: Eddie sits on counter while I cook breakfast. We watch the news.
• 7:50-8:15am: Sit down for breakfast. It is our only true meal "together" because he's actually hungry enough to sit still long enough for us both to eat our food. I cherish this somewhat leisurely meal with him because by dinnertime he's more fidgety and often not very hungry after having snacks at daycare...so I end up eating most of my meal alone.
• 8:15am: Put dirty dishes in dishwasher, wash oatmeal pot, pack my lunch (leftovers from dinner) and put into bike trailer, dress Eddie, fill dog bowls for dinner that night and stash in cupboard, try to make Eddie brush his teeth
  
• 8:30am: Prepare house for dogs to be left alone (Taters has been acting up recently, getting into loaves of bread, knocking over the garbage can, etc. so I have to "prep" now): put garbage can up on counter, move scented candles onto high shelf, stash all carbohydrate foods in oven, close bathroom doors, fill water bowl, etc.
• 8:40-8:45amam: Convince Eddie that it's time to "go see Cassie!" We put sweaters on if needed, open the garage door, back the bike and trailer out onto driveway, convince Eddie to get into the trailer so I can buckle him and clip on his helmet, roll up my pants leg (lest it get caught on the gears), close garage door
• 9am: Arrive at Cassie's
  

You'd think that 2.5 hours would be PLENTY of time to get all that done. But I can't seem to trim down ANY of it. I've tried getting up earlier, but as a person who seems to operate with the sun 6:30am is about as early as I can manage (unless I have a newborn who decides when I get up...thank goodness that's behind us). I've tried waking Eddie up earlier, as naturally as possible, by opening his door at about 7:10am and letting our ambient noise wake him. But it doesn't usually work. I've tried putting him to bed a full half hour early to see if that'd make him wake up earlier...but it doesn't.

I like to be on time or a little early for everything. But daycare isn't do-able. It doesn't REALLY seem to matter since the kids are usually doing a craft from 8:30-9am and then having a snack. (So no major curriculum or anything.) But I feel weird bringing him at 9 when I see on the sign in sheet that everyone else gets their kids there by 8am. And we're all either students or professors so none of us have super rigid work hours. Am I just feeling guilty that my child has a great sleep pattern?

Shifting our schedule would be an option, say to 9am-6pm at daycare, but Eddie is SO tired from playing hard all day that he's unmanageable by the time I pick him up. And then I'm just fighting him and we don't get any quality PM time together.

I'm seriously considering buying one of those daylight simulator things for my room and putting it on a timer so it turns on 30 minutes before I have to get out of bed. Maybe the light will trick my brain into thinking the sun is up so I can get up a little earlier.

In other news, I have the cutest kid ever, as evidenced in the following video: