Eli's toddler schedule

Last week I started my new schedule & Eli started HIS!:

MORNING

*Wake up & eat breakfast

*Art

*Pretend Play

*Physical Play

*Field trip w/mommy (Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday)

*Snack (around 10am Monday & Friday)

* Fun with Colors/Shapes (Monday & Friday)

*Independent Play while prep for lunch

AFTERNOON

*Lunch (around 12/12:30pm)

*Read books & prep for nap (diaper change, prep room)

*Nap (around 1/1:30pm)

*Snack (around 3pm)

*Language/Pre-reading & Numbers

*Outside OR Music & Movement

*Free play with toys

*Independent Play while prep for dinner

EVENING

*Dinner (around 5:30/6pm)

*Bath

*Prepare for bed (p.j.’s, brush teeth, clean up, read books in bed)

*Bed (around 8pm)

Since we are starting from scratch, for the most part, each week I will research ideas of activities under each category to organize for us all to easily understand & utilize with Eli. I bought a notebook, dividers & page protectors to organize the notebook so it can be easily used. Here's how it looks:

The idea is that the activities are "presented" to Eli. If he seems completely uninterested, then that activity isn't used. If he is, the activity can take as long as Eli wants. Last week, Eli did really well! Daddy, grandma & I reported that he was interested in most of the activities, & as I hoped, the structure helped his day run more smoothly. There was less t.v. on, less destroying of things (I like to call these times "destructo mode"), & a more engaged little man! At first I was concerned this would all backfire & he would not like ANY of the activities, but with one week down, this has not been the case!

Here's Eli doing "Art" time with Daddy:

Another great thing about all this is that this activity was supposed to use paint to show how red & white make pink & then paint hearts. I forgot that mixing water colors wouldn't work, so daddy improvised & got out a canvas (he had in storage) & they created this wonderful masterpiece instead!:

Here is Eli making puzzles out of construction hearts with daddy:

This activity was also great because it utilized stickers, which Eli really likes. I simply wrote the numbers 1-20 on paper to make a book & Eli & grandma worked on putting the correct number of stickers on each page. Eli was only interested until about number 5. Then later in the week I continued working on it with him:

Not on Eli's schedule, but part of his week nonetheless, Eli got a new-to-him baby doll to help him practice being a big brother. He has enjoyed caring for the baby named "Abby" (the other name we considered for Anna) & rocks (while singing "Rock a bye baby"), feeds, burps & swaddles her. Of course he also swings her around by her arms & legs, but we are working on that :).

Burping:

Practicing bottle feeding for the times he can help if mommy is away at work...we also talked a lot about mommy nursing Anna & how Anna can only drink mama milk after she is born:

Swaddling:

Hope everyone has an awesome Valentine's Day tomorrow!