Little Miss Caroline And Another Toddler Routine {St. Louis Baby Photographer}

A little break from the seniors, with Miss Caroline, celebrating her 1st birthday with some photos:

How cute is she with her big brother? He was SO sweet with her!

And in honor of toddler photos, let me share another great toddler routine, submitted by Terra, mama to another Noah (Noahs RULE!!) aged 2 and a sweet baby girl under the age of 1.

Terra emails:

Okay… I’m not a pro at this, so I’ll give you my ideal if I were home with the kiddos all day. (I’m going by my time line, alter hours based on YOUR wake up).

Wake up:

6:00 (Ideally, this would be 7:00, but try telling an 8.5 month old this).

Get up and snuggle, wonder/play a little bit

7:00 Breakfast

Make it FUN! If it’s waffles, see what Noah wants to add to them. Offer choices of fruit and flavors (Vanilla, almond, cinnamon, etc). Then offer choices of color… Then toppings (Syrup, whipped cream, powdered sugar (Colored perhaps?) sprinkles?

8:00 clean up and play!!

Maybe make the morning more of free play rather than structured to let him wake up. Puzzles, reading, coloring, trains, etc.

10:00 snack? (My Noah carries snacks all over if they are dry, but gets in his seat to eat yogurt, etc).

10:30/11:00 Errands or destination!

Maybe pick one-three days a week where you typically run errands and choose a destination. Park? Grocery store? Exploratory centers? Meet ups with friends? Perhaps a park with a PICNIC lunch in the summer? Or hit the grocery store and get lunch to bring to your activity? Maybe choose your “Theme” for the week or month and go based on that. Nature? Water? “Green” places or “blue” places (forest, water, etc).

1:00 Home for nap. (MOM TIME)

(I find a consistant nap time means that his body is ready and he doesn’t fight it so hard)

3:00 (ideally) wake up

Snack

3:30: structures activities or roaming (free play)

Ideas for projects:

Bubbles. Colored bubbles? Water in a spray bottle to “paint” the side walk or side of the house (If the sun is out). Paint, finger paints (made of vanilla pudding), baking, playing with frosting (in frosting bags with tips), play-doh, felt board? Paper and glue?

4:30/5:00Quiet time/movie while mom gets dinner ready

6:00 Dinner

7:00/7:30 bath and reading (mine starts between 6:45 and 7:15 for Maddie B, get her down and tackle Noah)

8:00/8:30 bed

Ideally, when I’m a SAHM mom, I want structure, but I want FUN. I know you have editing and work to do while you’re home as well. While I’m not a huge tv fan, I don’t see the problem with letting them watch a movie while you get something done. It’s not like you plop him in front of the tv all day and go about your own day. You interact, you play, you teach. We don’t have housekeepers/chef’s to do all of our work for us so that we can soak up our kiddos during all their waking hours. You’re a wonderful Mom, Em. And you have Noah to show for it!

And a second email with a few more ideas:

Okay, can you add this to my “Outing” idea.

Along with the themes, you could choose libraries for story time, certain places such as music lessons that you can peak in on and watch. ;)

Maybe choose once or twice a week for your morning play to teach letters/colors/numbers. Choose a letter a week or every few weeks to work on. (Our preschool does three-four letters per month, and one color per month). Maybe with your themes for the month you could choose to learn about those things as well. Teach about certain music, listen to it, watch it, etc.

Okay… I could go on for days. I’m done. ;)

Thank you, Terra!!! I LOVE the cute breakfast ideas! I really need to branch out with my food choices for Noah sometimes... Being cute with colors, fresh produce, etc. is SUCH a good, easy way to do that. THANKS!

I also love your project ideas... "painting" with water or pudding... letting Noah pay with frosting in decorator tubes with tips... Such a cute idea!

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Hooray for Caroline and for Terra and her sweet kiddos! Hooray for this time in our little ones' lives!! I just heard somewhere that the time we get these little ones home, prior to their schooling, is like a TENTH of our total life. A TENTH. That's it. This is the time to MAXIMIZE our interactions and our play with them... to remember these days not for the frustrations they give us, but for the magic and the tenderness.

I love that. I am so on board! Let's get down and dirty with some fingerpaints and cherish every bit of it.