I started writing this post in the beginning of April when Baby Girl just turned 11 months old.
When I post this she'll be almost 12 months old! One year! Such a big girl!
But our routine hasn't really changed in a month so I'm still posting this!
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Since we started taking
#socialdistancing seriously our days changed without a doubt.
I am the type of person who likes to get out of the house (even just to run errands!), get fresh air (even in the winter!), walk around the neighborhood, go to baby classes and see other mommies for coffee or lunch. I definitely wouldn't just stay home all day with my daughter if I didn't have to.
By myself I probably would be more likely to. On the couch. Cuddled up with my dogs, eating and binge-watching Netflix. If you don't have kids you might wonder: "Why doesn't she just do that with her baby?"
So first of all, she wouldn't let me. She is all over the place and wants to see and touch everything. She would probably jump of the couch, pinch the dogs and throw my food.
And second of all, I don't want her to be in that kind of environment all the time. Where we stare at our TV or phone all day. She doesn't really get any benefit from that and I just think that I can do better, if that makes sense. She's naturally very curious and I want to nourish that trait.
Our days are pretty much structured by
meals and naps at the moment.
Structure is very important to me to stay sane.
After we get up in the morning, I change Baby girl's diaper and we get dressed for the day. I get her dressed in something cute, while I wear leggings or sweatpants and a hoodie most days.
We go downstairs, say "hi" to the dogs (literally! It's so cute!), let them out in the yard and make breakfast. She plays with some toys, which we leave in the kitchen for her or we make coffee together, which means that she gets to press the buttons on the coffee machine and she just stays on my hip to watch the milk froth and the coffee pour in.
This is the wooden house she has.
We thrifted it and don't have the little shapes,
which are supposed to go in the holes.
She still really enjoys playing with this.
We love these juggling/dance scarves!
I got Baby Girl her own set after we played with them in a baby class
and she was so fascinated with them.
These are so versatile!
You can throw them up and watch them fall down
or put them in something and pull them out.
A little later when she'll start with imaginative or pretend play
we could also use the blue ones to mimic water
and the green ones for grass and place little animal figurines on them.
Can't wait!
Breakfast
When the mess Baby girl made at breakfast (& there always is one!) is cleaned up we go back upstairs, wash her, brush her teeth and play in her room.
Sometimes we call friends and family in Europe in the mornings (time difference!) and chat a little.
Since I speak Polish to her in the mornings we'll read a couple books in Polish, listen to Polish kids songs and sing along. We also have little jam sessions with maracas while the music plays. It's so cute how excited she gets about that!
Depending on her mood she might also just do some unstructured "free play", where she just roams around her room, pulls books of her shelf and blocks etc. out of the baskets. She pretty much makes a mess to the adult eye. During unstructured play children are supposed to get creative and just do whatever they want in a safe environment under supervision (at least at this young age!). The adults aren't supposed to interfere and tell them how to play with certain toys. I sometimes struggle with that because I do want to teach her how to use a toy in the intended way but she comes up with solutions, which are fun for her and I just sit and watch or play along.
Get the lobster romper here!
I am obsessed with it!
Between 11:45 and 12:45 she will usually get tired and she'll go down for her nap.
Nap (45min to 2h)
While she naps I'll have some Me-time! I'll check messages on my phone, scroll through instagram, blog, do some embroidery or drink a cup of coffee in peace.
I'll check on her on our
eufy baby monitor, which I absolutely love because the image is sooo clear! I'm always checking if she is still breathing and it's way easier to tell with the big display... #momlife
You can also pan and tilt it, when baby moves around the crib or when you want to see something else in the room. It also has great reception so I can take it into the yard. And it obviously has all the normal features display of like temperature and time. Serious recommendation, if you're unhappy with your monitor or don't have one yet.
After her nap it's time to speak German! When I get her out of the crib we usually cuddle a little right after and I change her diaper in her room. Then we go back downstairs for lunch. I always tell her that we go downstairs "langsam, langsam, langsam" and she finds that hilarious. It just means "slowly" in German because our stairs are so steep and somewhat slippery.
Most of the time we will have the same thing for lunch. Maybe I'll make a separate post about our meals. Youtuber style: "What we eat in a week"... :)
Lunch
After lunch I clean Baby girl's face and hands, while we sing a song which at the end asks to shake your hands (or whatever body part you're washing) to dry them. She is so good at associating this song with the motion - I am so impressed by that!
I also usually need to vacuum, wash dishes and water the plants at some point of the day. I try to include her as much as possible by explaining what I'm doing and most of the time carrying her or having her sit next to me while I do these tasks.
If the weather is nice we might either go into our yard or on a short -
socially distant - walk in the neighborhood.
If it's not so nice out, we'll stay in listening to a playlist I made with a mix of German kids songs and Disney songs. Or we'll read German books.
Some days I'll try out some pinterest DIY toys. A lot of them were destroyed within less than a minute but she actually likes this one:
I found this picture on pinterest.
(Ours is not as pretty haha)
We also like playing with the toys in her room, like her stacking towers and her puzzles. She hasn't really figured them out yet, but she can get a wider plastic ring over the wooden middle part now! I've heard that this is easier for babies and will prepare them for putting the actual wooden ring with the smaller hole over the middle part eventually.
Other than that she likes exploring the baskets with the different contents in her room. I rotate the contents when I have the feeling she’s not too interested in the content anymore. I keep the spare toys in a big white chest in her room. She hasn’t figured out that there are more toys in there, so she’ll happily play with the ones displayed to her.
This looks way more crowded than it is in reality! I promise!
I really try to not overwhelm her with toys.
You'll find her IKEA stacking rings here!
I like that the stick is soft. I feel like injuries are less likely
to happen because of that.
Her much prettier pastel colored stacking ring tower
was a gift from her auntie Jessi
and was bought in Germany (at Sostrene Grene, I think).
(But not as pretty as ours :P)
The pretty muted plastic rings
we use on the wooden ring stacker instead
of the actual rings, which go with this toy
are also from Sostrene Grene, bought in Germany.
You could use any 2inch rings...
wooden or the colorful plastic links you might already own.
She's getting better and better at these!
You also have to remember that getting the piece out
picking it up by the small knob is already a success!
It's good to start with the easiest shape - a circle!
And then move on to more complicated ones :)
I can't find our puzzle anymore but this one is very similar.
Just watch out with the smallest circle.
It might too small for your baby/toddler (Choking hazard!).
Baby girl loves these so much!
They feel so nice and a little different from all the other toys
and I try to name them, whenever she plays with them.
I got those at a handmade store in Germany for very cheap.
If you like them and can crochet try to make them yourself
because on amazon I find them to be crazyyy expensive.
Almost $13 for only one carrot! Wow!
That's 12 veggies or fruits for around $70!
Afternoon Snack
We usually have our afternoon snacks casually on the kitchen floor or while she sits on the kitchen counter and I'm right in front of her!!! Baby girl will usually have milk, fruit, some homemade sugar free baby treat or store bought puffs. After that I’ll usually wash some dishes and start making dinner.
Daddy comes home/finishes work
When my husband comes home from work at the office or finishes work at home he takes our daughter off my hands, so I can finish making food in peace. With both hands.
He will also help me with her during the day when he's home but most of the time he actually needs to work!
Again like at lunch time Baby girl will usually eat what we eat unless it's too spicy or too salty for her.
Dinner
There’s different types of dinners at our house and the ones with a tired baby aren’t the fun ones. So hopefully she wasn’t overly tired at dinner, so we can finish our food, while she is either still hanging out in her high chair or on the floor slightly bothering the dogs. After that we’ll take her upstairs to get her ready for bed. That’s the time when we can almost smell hot tea, some cookies, candles and Netflix (what does Netflix actually smell like?). She'll have some milk, while we read to her, brush teeth and then it's bedtime!
Bed time
When Baby girl is in bed we'll clean up downstairs and then enjoy our night sans baby!
And that’s it! Every freaking day, my friends.
Some days I have it all together like that with a routine. I feel like I structured our day successfully, so none of us was bored, frustrated or didn’t get enough useful input.
But on other days I am only playing half-heartedly, while staring out the window, worrying or spending too much time on my phone, researching Corona-News and texting or scrolling through Instagram. And then I get mad and frustrated at myself (because I’m really trying to be a “good mom” - what is that anyway?), even though I know we have all been there and there are no perfect parents out there.
We should all allow ourselves a break! A lot of parents didn't gain a single minute of time during the day since this global pandemic became part of our lives. I'm very happy for everybody (and only a little jealous) who is using this time as a paid vacation: sleeping in, exploring new hobbies and baking banana bread. I honestly had a much more balanced life before this all happened. At least once a week I enjoyed the luxury of not having to "plan" a morning activity because it was planned and performed for me at the local library - we just had to join. And afterwords I could enjoy some semi Me-time on a walk or a coffee/lunch date with other moms.
I know that staying at home and socially distant is important for all of us.
We need to accept it. I can't pretend it doesn't bother me though. I'm just trying to express my irritation about the current situation and my grief of not being able to continue my life as it used to be. We recently moved here and I am still in the process of exploring the area, meeting people and making friends.
I hope this will all soon be over and we will be able see our loved ones here in New York, but also have friends and family from Germany, Poland and Colombia visit. We miss them so much!
Stay safe and healthy!
Thanks for visiting my blog!
Mery
