Settling into a Routine for the Summer

We have been back home from our vacation for a week and a half now. It's different having Samuel home all the time now. I'm relieved that we don't have to do all the driving around. I am so over the "mom's taxi" lifestyle! Here's the general pattern of our weekdays:

WAKE UP

The kids are getting to bed quite late, so I let them sleep in. I try to get up around 5:30am. Mornings are my time alone to get things done. I work in the kitchen, laundry room, and then get outside to water plants or pull weeds.

Ideally I would get the kids up at 8am but it's usually 8:30. Then we rush to have Samuel dressed by the time our in-home helper gets here at 9:00. Samuel has not been nearly as cooperative with her as I had hoped he would be. She used to come after school, and Samuel was often tired and irritable at the prospect of 3 MORE hours of work after school. I'm going to start getting Samuel up at 8am. Perhaps if he has some time to play by himself before she arrives he'll be happier.


I had thought the 3 hours his helper was here would open up all kinds of time for me to work with my other children (we have to finish 4th grade this summer for my oldest son). But it has been very hectic. The three hours go by very fast. My oldest son isn't always very agreeable to working at this time either! My baby sleeps in until 10-11 so at least things are more manageable because of that.

AFTERNOONS

We eat lunch after the in-home helper leaves. Then I give the boys some free time. After that I get my oldest son back to work. Baby girl takes her nap at 3 o-clock. I sit down with Samuel during this time and go over some work with him. He either gets to play outside after that, watch TV for a while, or play on the computer.

EVENINGS
Once 4:30 or 5:00 hits I scramble to clean up the kitchen and work on dinner. After dinner the kids and I get outside for a while. I play with Samuel a little and then I do a little gardening. If my husband is home and is working in the garage Samuel likes to "hang out" with him out there. I'm encouraging my husband to find something for Samuel to "help" him with out there!

BEDTIME
Bedtime for the boys has been around 10pm. I'd like it to be a little earlier, but by the time I bathe the 3 younger ones and we get them a snack and let them play something of their choice (an incentive for Samuel to put on his pajamas by himself), this is what time it is. Samuel hasn't been falling asleep very well since school got out. He talks to himself a lot during this time (he is doing a lot of "self talk" all the time now, this has been increasing since last fall). Often he calls me and asks me to lay down with him for a while. Sometimes he will leave his room and come find me.


My oldest son is participating in a music/art day camp in August. Other than that we have no scheduled camps or activities that we are participating in this summer. We go to the park one morning per week and that is where my oldest and youngest sons get to see their buddies on a regular basis. Samuel doesn't particularly care about seeing anyone there. Our in-home helper comes along. Ideally we'd be looking for chances to make him socialize there but we're still working over the hurdle of getting him to do anything there besides talk to himself.

How is this compared to the past few summers we've had? Well, I'm relieved to not have to drive Samuel in town for summer school. That lasted 4 or 5 weeks and meant getting him there by 8:30am and then picking him up at 11:30. Since I have been still doing school work for my oldest son during the summer for the past few years, that was tough because there wasn't enough time to get much of anything done in the 2 hours we could be home. Then, last summer Samuel would get home from school and have 3 hours of in-home help! Two summers ago I was pregnant with my baby girl and didn't feel like doing much of anything! Last summer she was not walking yet, so my activity was restricted somewhat by having her around. This summer I can get around and do things a little easier since the baby is mobile. However, she wants to stick to me like glue and wants to "help" with everything! If she is not "helping" then she is inevitably tearing something apart around the house!