Bigger kids, new morning routines

Driving kids to camp is something of a pain, but it is nice that our entire morning has moved later. The older kids can sleep until 7:45/8 a.m. The 2-year-old — knock on wood — has also been sleeping pretty well in the morning. He is in that half-a-nap stage where if he sleeps for 2 hours in the afternoon, he will stay up until 10:00 p.m., which is really terrible. However, if he doesn’t nap, he goes down pretty early and sometimes needs to be roused with the big kids. I guess you pick your poison.

Since I seem to wake with the sun in the summer, this new schedule opens up possibilities. This morning I was home alone with the four younger kids (the oldest of whom is almost 13). I decided it would be OK, if I woke up long before them, to go run laps around the yard and up and down our driveway (which is quite long).

So that is what I told the older kids I would do (so they’d know where I was if they woke up and I wasn’t there). I only ran for 20 minutes because if the toddler did wake up I didn’t want to leave him in his crib too long. But all went smoothly. I managed to run before the heat of the day hit. I came back, made myself some coffee, took a shower, and then managed to read my Shakespeare for the day (Much Ado About Nothing) before anyone stirred.

We have been in the little kid phase for a long long time. But slowly that phase is ending. The 2-year-old woke up dry and successfully tried the potty (!). The kids helped me with making dinner and with taking the trash out last night. The older two have been making their own lunches for camp without me reminding them. It’s interesting to see how time changes as children grow up. I may be able to build a morning routine yet! (Well, until the school year starts and we have to be up at 6:30…)

In other news: A few weeks ago, I mentioned my friend Katherine Chen’s new historical novel, Joan (about Joan of Arc). She got a nice write-up in the New York Times about it — please check that out!