ideas for keeping 2 year old entertained while i WAH

[readytobedone]

i'm a PhD student, and i T.A.

i have daycare 3 days per week, but it's not enough for me to get my teaching prep work done since 10+ of the hours of care i have per week are spent in the classroom, in the car, or in office hours.

DH is letting me "off duty" in the evenings twice per week, and also for a block of time on the weekend, so i can go out and do whatever i didn't get done during the day. that's nice, but then i feel like i never see him, and i feel like DD is never with both of us at once, which is kind of sad for her.

so my question is--how can i carve out an hour or so each day i am home with her to get stuff done? naptime works okay, as long as i don't fall asleep. i have to sit with her while she sleeps (major separation anxiety right now), but i can bring my laptop and books and work in bed.

but like today i fell asleep so i'm behind

i know you wise WAH mamas probably have some tips--or do you tend to do a lot after your LOs are in bed?

[frontstreetmama]

My DD will be 2 in October... when I have work to do that is not getting down after bedtime or during naptime for whatever reason, I grab coffee and take her to the park first thing in the morning and organize my thoughts/papers/etc a little bit while trying to make her RUN A LOT!!! Then we go home and I put a snack and some crayons and some coloring pages and stickers (she LOVES stickers!) on one end of the table and set up my work stuff on the other end... that's usually good for a half-hour to an hour... playdough will usually buy me another half hour where she's at the table (i.e. NOT flushing things down the toilet lol) after that, I can usually put on Teletubbies and give her one of her favourite toy sets (eg. Mr. Potato Head) and she will sit and watch and play for about another half hour - forty-five minutes... then she's usually ready for lunch and a nap and if I have good momentum going, it's great because I'll keep working for the 2-3 hours that she sleeps!!! I find the trick is the hour of outside time

[SleeplessMommy]

Flat shipping boxes or very large pieces of paper, plus washable markers.

[Maggi315]

No great advice, but just wanted to say, I understand. I could have worked much more during nap time, but I always fell asleep and frankly,if I didn't, then I couldn't make it all through the night.,

I am dealing with my just turned 4 yo right now, working from home and going back to get my masters and so far, I feel like I can't even think! And when he is gone, then I feel like I don't have the motivation to get anything done!

I'm sure there are some threads on here about keeping little ones occupied. I know when I was in school the first time, I relied alot on t.v. and only let them watch it when I had to work, so it was a treat. It's hard with only one, with two, they could occupy each other.

Good luck! I'm always interested in ideas, so it will be nice to see what others offer.

[rabbitmum]

I have worked freelance at home a lot since my youngest was a year old. What has always worked best for me has been to put in an hour or two of work in the morning, shortly after breakfast. I let him (my youngest, now 3 1/2) entertain himself with whatever he wants to do. I don't suggest anything for him, I just sit down and work and let him think of something to do himself.

I don't tell him "you go and play, don't disturb me", as I want him to play because he enjoys it, and I want to avoid turning playing into a job he has to do for me. TV is not an option, we don't allow TV in the daytime and don't let him watch TV alone anyway.

My main trick is to give him attention immediately when he wants it, not tell him to wait etc., as that can cause him to be unhappy with the whole situation and become more demanding. After a minute or five of focused attention he will go off and continue playing, and I get back to work.

So my work schedule has often been:

One or two hours after breakfast
One or two hours during nap
Maybe half an hour in the afternoon if necessary and possible

And if I had more work that needed to be done I would work another hour after my husband came home, while he cooked dinner and looked after our son.

Last resort: Anything up to four hours after bedtime.