Plans, schedules, and goals

School starts in just 3 weeks. It's actually a little further away than I realized. But I have big plans.

For these next 3 weeks, I'm working on an earlier bedtime and a bedtime routine. This is something we've almost always lacked. Kids thrive on consistency and predictability. We have neither of those at bedtime, for the time being.

Bedtime is a struggle, every single night.

My plan is to start the bedtime routine at 7. The kids will have their milk, brush their teeth, then we'll all head upstairs for bathtime. Bathtime usually lasts about half an hour. But I'm going to have to start seperating the boys and girls because they're getting too old to bathe together, really, and there's just not enough room in the tub anymore anyway. Then each of the kids gets rubbed down with lotion and into PJ's. We'll read for a bit, chat, and the kids will be in bed BY 830, preferrably more like 8.

Of course this bedtime routine hinges on dinner time. I've GOT to get better about dinner. In order to start bedtime at 7, we'll have to be sitting down to eat dinner by 6. Five thirty would be better. And it would be very nice to incorporate a clean up time before the bedtime routine, so the kids could pick up their own toys and help out.

I guess the problem is that although I think a schedule would be wonderful, I'm just not much of a scheduled person. I'm a go-with-the-flow, fly by the seat of my pants kinda gal. Whatever works today, works today.

But Rayce will be starting school and he's gotta get enough sleep.

So, we *have* to do this.

So, yes, we'll be concentrating on an evening schedule for the next few weeks. I've gotta get it planned out and STICK TO IT, *every* night.

Once we've got the bedtime routine down, in a week and a half or so, I'll start getting Rayce up in the morning at 7 and working on getting him to get dressed by himself, without prompting, and eat breakfast and brush his teeth.

The bus should be picking him up about 8, since school starts at 840. So 7 seems like the best time to get him up and running. I'm thinking I'll wake Rayce up and give him his clothes, and shower while he gets dressed. Once we're both dressed, I'll get the girls up and they can all eat breakfast together.

Rayce has a hard time eating in the morning. He's just not hungry when he first gets up. This is going to be a challenge. It'll be trial and error, I'm sure. At least they have snacks in kindergarten!

This is the last week I'll have the boys overnight on school nights. And beginning in September, I will only have Linda's boys 3 days a week. We're still trying to work out the schedule for that. With this new schedule, I will not ever have 7 kids at one time. But the bottom line is that for 3 days out of the 7 day week, I'll have only my 3 kids, and for 2 days during the week I'll have only TWO kids during the school day.

You have *no* idea how much that thought excites me!! Field trips to the library, the PAL center, the Discovery Center... I'll be able to do things like that, with only TWO kids!!!

Once Rayce starts school and we get into a better and more predictable schedule, with less kids less of the time to worry about, I'll be seriously cracking down with the potty training with Charlize. And Jonathan and Dante when they're here. Jonathan is potty trained at home. He will even take his diaper off, use the potty, and put it back on. But here, he won't go on his own. He will go if I make him sit on the potty, but the idea is never his own. And every time I ask him if he has to use the potty, he says "I did". Ummmm yeah, but that was 2 hours ago, Jon!! So, yes, potty training, within the next couple months, is going to take a drastic turn and hopefully by Thanksgiving the only kid(s) still in diapers will be Liliya (and Dante will probably still be in diapers but I'll be working with him a lot!) (and Jeremiah, of course, when he's here). I'm hoping, keeping my fingers crossed!!!

We've been having discipline problems here, moreso lately than ever. NONE of the kids have been listening, at ALL. Seriously. No one listens to a word I say. I have to yell and threaten and it get ugly, quickly. I get overhwlemed and frustrated and upset. It's not working for any of us. Time to kick the 1-2-3 back into full gear and stick with it, also.

Ohhhhh sooooo much to do!!

But I have full confidence that once we can make all of this happen, it will make life soooooo much easier. So it's worth the struggle that it will be in the beginning.