DS turned 3 in January. Until about a year ago, I worked around his schedule. I'm a freelance writer, so it's relatively easy to adjust my schedule. About a year ago, we felt that 1) he needed more interaction - mom's not really social and 2) I needed "work" time. So we enrolled him in a mother's morning out program. There's no pt daycare here.
As of August, he started going 4 days a week, 4 hours a day. DD (13 months) started going 2 days a week. I still did the rest of my working around their schedules.
Right now, I'm reconsidering sending him the 4 days. Here's why:
1. As DD gets older, the 2 days with her aren't very productive. I love spending time with just her, and it's not that mind that she's more active. It's that I'm sending DS to the program, and I'm not getting any benefit for my work out of it.
2. He's nowhere near potty trained. I know we're not supposed to push, but I'm getting anxious. I don't know how well it will work to do it and have him go to the program. I've heard from a couple of other parents that they're not good about taking newly learning kids to the bathroom. Two we know quit because of it.
3. We've always allowed child-led napping. It only seems fair. DS would like to wean himself from naps completely, but he can't. He really still needs some daytime rest. If he doesn't lie down to nap, he either becomes a total grouch by 4 pm and stays that way until bedtime, or he falls asleep on the floor. Even if I ask him if he wants to lie down when he gets home, it's about 1:30 before we start the nap. That's too late for him, I guess, because then he's up until 10-11 PM.
He's been home some lately (sick and snow days), and he still wants to nap really early - 10:30-11. On those days, he will go to bed at 8 and get up at 7. Otherwise, I'm waking him at 7:30-8, and I don't think it's working. If I took him out, I could let him nap when he wants everyday except the 2 days when DD goes (I would still send him then). Then we could have a more normal sleep schedule, which would allow me more time to be with DH and to work in the evenings if needed. It's hard to work after bedtime if bedtime's 11 PM.
So...with all of that said, would you consider dropping him back to 2 days a week? We have to think about summer and next school year. I'm really thinking we're going to keep him at 2 days/week for the school year. During the summer, if I'm only accustomed to having 2 days a week, hiring a babysitter would be no problem. I could go for coffee or downtown (free wireless) to work on just those 2 days. DH's concern about summer has been that it would be tough to work at home with both of them here, even with a sitter.
Thoughts?
As of August, he started going 4 days a week, 4 hours a day. DD (13 months) started going 2 days a week. I still did the rest of my working around their schedules.
Right now, I'm reconsidering sending him the 4 days. Here's why:
1. As DD gets older, the 2 days with her aren't very productive. I love spending time with just her, and it's not that mind that she's more active. It's that I'm sending DS to the program, and I'm not getting any benefit for my work out of it.
2. He's nowhere near potty trained. I know we're not supposed to push, but I'm getting anxious. I don't know how well it will work to do it and have him go to the program. I've heard from a couple of other parents that they're not good about taking newly learning kids to the bathroom. Two we know quit because of it.
3. We've always allowed child-led napping. It only seems fair. DS would like to wean himself from naps completely, but he can't. He really still needs some daytime rest. If he doesn't lie down to nap, he either becomes a total grouch by 4 pm and stays that way until bedtime, or he falls asleep on the floor. Even if I ask him if he wants to lie down when he gets home, it's about 1:30 before we start the nap. That's too late for him, I guess, because then he's up until 10-11 PM.
He's been home some lately (sick and snow days), and he still wants to nap really early - 10:30-11. On those days, he will go to bed at 8 and get up at 7. Otherwise, I'm waking him at 7:30-8, and I don't think it's working. If I took him out, I could let him nap when he wants everyday except the 2 days when DD goes (I would still send him then). Then we could have a more normal sleep schedule, which would allow me more time to be with DH and to work in the evenings if needed. It's hard to work after bedtime if bedtime's 11 PM.
So...with all of that said, would you consider dropping him back to 2 days a week? We have to think about summer and next school year. I'm really thinking we're going to keep him at 2 days/week for the school year. During the summer, if I'm only accustomed to having 2 days a week, hiring a babysitter would be no problem. I could go for coffee or downtown (free wireless) to work on just those 2 days. DH's concern about summer has been that it would be tough to work at home with both of them here, even with a sitter.
Thoughts?
