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Toddlers: 12 - 24 Months
Shanyn1027
member
SAHMs - how do you spend your days?
Shanyn1027
member
I recently took a weekend only position and am now home with my 15 month old son during the day. Just curious as to how other mamas pass the time. The weather here is starting to get cooler and I'm getting scared that winter will make us both crazy 
This discussion has been closed.
Re: SAHMs - how do you spend your days?
Storytime three days a week at various county libraries, head to the playground when the weather is nice, take a stroll around the mall a couple of times a week, go visit my parents once a week, keep the house tidy, reorganize the house once a week lol, and bump whenever Joy gets bored of me playing with her or she's napping.
It's seriously not as boring as it sounds, haha.
My DD is in preschool 3 mornings a week and one of those days my DS is in a PDO program - I use that time for coffee and reading LOL.
My DD has swimming, dance, Spanish and gymnastics on top of school, and my DS has swimming, Soccer, a Tiny Tot gym park district class, and gymnastics as well, and with errands and playdates our weeks become full very quickly! I actually look forward to down time at home
My oldest in in Preschool 3 mornings a week, so at least one morning J and I hang out at the house (he loves having the house to himself without his big brother there).
Other days we do park/playground, long walks, library story time, errands, music class, playdates with neighbors, go out to lunch at a simple place (we love Bruegger's for lunch, the kids think it's fun), soft play playroom.
Check out your local parks and rec and libraries, that's a great starting point! I also was part of a meetup.com group back in Boston that had great ideas and meetups for Moms!
I'm kind of a home body, so most days we don't go out. We will play outside, maybe walk to the park a block away. Read books, watch Sesame Street, DD1 plays independently very well so I get housework done while she plays. Right now I nap during DD1's nap as long as DD2 is sleeping since we're in the up all night phase. Sometimes I'll set up little "sensory centers" to play in - a box of rice or bowl of water with measuring cups, spoons, etc., or get out crayons and paper, let her finger paint with her applesauce at snack time. Pretty soon I'm going to try baking with DD1.
Days when we do feel like getting out we run errands, get groceries (DD1 loves the grocery store), doctor's appts. Our library has a nice little area with educational toys and lots of board books that we visit sometimes for a change of pace. Twice a month we go to a Bible Study at church and DD1 gets to play with the "big kids" (young preschoolers of the other mom's) for an hour or two.
DD1 Feb 2010
DD2 Sept 2011
We spend a lot of time at home just playing and hanging out, but we also try and get out at least once a day. Our weekly outings include:
-A playdate with a friend - either at one of our houses or we do lunch or breakfast at a restaurant (usually a diner)
-Trip to Costco - we often stop for a slice of pizza or ice cream while we're there
-The park - depends on weather, some weeks (like this very dreary week in the northeast), we don't go at all, other weeks we go a few times
-Hang out with my mom - we usually see her on Fridays and Mondays for at least half a day, sometimes longer. These days are great because I get a lot of help!
-Trip to Target - we are walking distance to a Target store, so we go there a couple times a week for groceries, RX, baby stuff, etc...
-Take a walk in the stroller, stop and explore along the way
-Go out to breakfast/lunch - my DS is good in restaurants, so I like to take him out to eat because it saves me from having to prepare 1 meal and then I dont have to clean up!
Then there are other random things that we do - like today we visited daddy at work for a few minutes and then stopped at mcdonald's for lunch on the way home... our local mother's group hosts monthly playdates and activities, so we have that once or twice a month. Once a month or every other month we'll do something different like the aquarium, museum, farm, etc.
For the most part we stay busy, but occassionally we get bored and stuck for things to do. The weather largely influences it... it's been a long week for us because it's been rainy and foggy all week...
Enjoy the freedom to make your own schedule
I think having somewhat of a routine helps to make the day go by faster and easier. Our typical day when we aren't going out at all is: wake up, snuggle in my bed until DS gets too antsy then head down to play a bit, breakfast, more play, take a long walk/hike in stroller, push car or backpack (amazingly in CO we can go out almost every day year round so long as we dress right), lunch, nap, play, make dinner, eat dinner, short walk outside with DH, bedtime routine.
If I have stuff to get done while he is awake, that usually happens during the "play" times. DS sometimes just hangs out with me "helping" with laundry or whatever or else he plays by himself. I just try to give him some kind of play project related to what I'm doing whenever I do have chores to do, and he has fun.
The greatest thing I just started is actually running on the treadmill while he is awake. I have one of those plastic playyards that comes apart in pieces, and I have it spread all the way across the room so he has a big safe area to play in. It's been working out awesomely, and it makes my day a lot more productive to get my workout in before nap time so I can do other stuff then.
He also just started a preschool he can go to 0-3 mornings a week, so I usually take him twice. Besides that we just go out for errands whenever I need to, but I don't prefer to take him because he is a maniac in stores - doesn't want to sit in the cart and tries to run around grabbing everything!
I usually go to the gym around 9 and he gets to play in the nursery there for about an hour. When we get home he naps, then lunch, then playtime where we may go outside for awhile depending on weather, then afternoon nap. When he wakes up we usually go for a walk with the dog or go to the park then it is time for dinner. If I have errands we usually do those in the afternoon after lunch. He is pretty much a stickler for his routine so I try not to mess with it to much.
Now that I have two LO's my days are crazy, but when I just had DS they felt very long unless we kept busy. Here was how we spent our days:
6:30ish: wakeup
7:00: breakfast
7-10ish: watched a little TV and played with toys, then DS came with me from room to room while I did housework, I would sing songs and make up games to play while he "helped" me. Then I took a shower and got both of us dressed.
10-11:30ish: errands
11:30/noon: lunch
12-1:30/2ish: nap
2-5ish: I tried to line up an afternoon activity for everyday of the week that the weather was decent, such as playdates with friends, either at our house or a friends, the park, the zoo, open play at the local kiddie gym, a visit to Grandma's, a walk around the neighborhood. If the weather was bad we watched movies and played with all of our toys.
5:30/6ish: bath
6:30: dinner
7:00/7:30 bed
Winter will SUCK. It's so freaking cold in northern Maine for winters, and there's like 5 hours of sunlight. Not looking forward to that.
I do random cleaning, laundry, cooking, we read books, play "chase", play with the dog, work on age appropriate puzzle toys, have "tests" where I name something and she has to point it out, she plays independently, I watch TV and go on thebump. Only once a week do we go into town to run errands.
We always go out in the morning. We hit the park, have moms club meetings/playdates, the library (ours has a great kids section w/toys), the outdoor mall to play in the fountain, playground or ride the little train, etc. Then we come home for naptime and usually don't go back out. If we do, we go to the park. After nap he eats lunch and we take the dog for a walk, play outside, read books, play w/blocks, color, paint. He loves crafts.
ETA: also about once a week we do the zoo, children's museum or something like that.