A Week with a Toddler

One of the things that I find really helpful as a stay-at-home mom is to have things planned throughout the week to look forward to (both for me and my toddler!) so that every day doesn’t stretch out before me with no plans beyond “eat something at some point.”

Also, having somewhere to go or people coming over means that the times when there isn’t anything planned feels very nice and relaxing, instead of just boring.

Here’s what our weekly schedule has looked like for the past couple of months:

Monday

Most of Monday is pretty relaxed, as I do laundry, clean the house a bit, and mainly recover from the weekend. Our main event is in the afternoon, when I host a little music group for about six to eight toddlers for an hour. (Details about how I run it here, if you’re interested in starting your own)

Tuesday

Another fairly relaxed morning. We often hit our local IKEA for their free lunch and play in the kids section before naptime. In the afternoon, a friend and I get together with our two toddlers and they just play while we visit.

Wednesday

Ella attends a little preschool with four other toddlers her age for several hours on Wednesday mornings (while I run errands or do things that are harder to do with a small child in tow). In the afternoon, we go grocery shopping.

Thursday

On Thursday, we attend storytime at our local library and then spend at least an hour in the children’s department looking at books, playing on the computers, and choosing a puppet to take home for the week.

Friday

On Friday mornings, two of my friends who have similar age daughters and I run a little co-op preschool (we each rotate a week and take the fourth week of the month off). It’s low-key and fun for the girls. And nice to have a few hours of childless time a couple of Fridays a month.

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