Photography by Shadi Garman
Coat: Canada Goose Leggings: Spanx Sneakers: Golden Goose Charlee’s Coat: Amazon (Only $30 and has been our go-to all winter long! It runs a little big. She is wearing a 12-18 month size)
The last few months and I guess the toddler stage in general can be super crazy and at times have made me feel a little out of control. On one hand, I love this age because Charlee is learning new words daily, communicating more and just being the cutest thing on the planet. On the other hand, she is also going through a frustrating time because sometimes she can’t communicate what she wants and gets really frustrated herself resulting in meltdowns and tears. She also just got all of her molars AT ONE TIME which was so painful for her, poor baby. It’s all typical toddler behavior but at times I find it hard to navigate.
One thing I think I actually have down pat is our morning routine. Charlee is a dream to be with every morning, and I think it’s because of the structure and schedule I have set up for us. I thought I would share a little bit about it with you guys!
I wake up before Charlee (around 6:30ish) and get myself and the apartment ready for the day. I like to get myself ready, make the bed, unload the dishwasher from the night before and just start the day with a clean apartment. Charlee usually wakes up around 7:30 A.M. which gives me plenty of time to prep for my day. Matt has to be at the office by 7 A.M. so I do the mornings solo. I have found that my mornings with Charlee are pretty seamless, because Charlee knows exactly what to expect. We have a routine and schedule we follow pretty much to the t every single day. As soon as Charlee wakes up, I change her diaper and get her dressed for school. Then we do her hair. I take her into the bathroom and prop her onto the toilet lid (I just bought a stool to eliminate this but for now this has worked for us.) I do Charlee’s hair and give her her toothbrush and she brushes her teeth while I do her hair. She is SO patient, it’s incredible. After that, we go to the kitchen and I pour her milk and give her a snack. I usually let her snack on berries, bananas, a smoothie pouch or yogurt (she eats her breakfast at daycare.) After snack we play in the playroom together and just hang out until it’s time to go. Around 7:55 A.M we leave the apartment and walk down to school. It’s my favorite walk :). Charlee LOVE to walk and I can tell she feels like such a big girl. When Charlee was about 18 months old, I decided to skip the stroller and start walking her to school. We are lucky enough that our daycare is leased out of the same building as our apartment so this walk doesn’t take too long. She walks almost the whole way! We stop in front of the elevator bank to look out the window and say “hi” to all the birdies. Then we try and guess which elevator is going to come, which has become Charlee’s favorite new activity. Then we walk together outside and she knows to hold my hand. It’s just so cute and I love our little walk together.
It can be a bit tough to navigate the mornings by myself with Charlee but by introducing the same schedule every single day, has really helped keep mornings predictable and enjoyable. I really love this special time with my girl and look forward to seeing her smile up at me when I go in to get her in the mornings.
What does your morning routine look like?
xoxo-J