The evening routine for our kids seems to be getting longer. As they have got older we are having to introduce new facets to going to sleep to get them to co-operate, and it is starting to reach the breaking point.
Initially the routine was simple:
Feed them dinner, bathe them, dress them, put them down to sleep.
This soon became:
Feed them, bathe them, dress them, read them a story, put them down to sleep.
Over time more and more steps have been added to eventually become:
Feed them dinner, have a pudding, let them walk upstairs, bathe them, play with buckets in the bath, brush our teeth, sing the Imperial March from Star Wars as we carry them to the bedroom, dry them off while they are in a ball, play ‘baby-butt’ bongos, change them, try to dress them while running around, read a story, let them re-read the book, say goodnight to things outside, let them close the curtains, say goodnight to the cuddly toys, cuddle Mummy, make Mummy and Daddy kiss, give Daddy a kiss, put them down to sleep.
My whole life is starting to get very busy as a parent.
In the morning it was also so simple as a singleton. I had very few responsibilities so I was able to get away with just:
Get up, get dressed and go to work.
This was great as it meant my alarm could go off just a few minutes before I needed to get out of the door. It meant I could maximise the amount of sleep I got and could go to bed later. As life progressed (and I tried to be healthier and frugal) it evolved into:
Get up, get dressed, have breakfast and go to work.
This was also fine as breakfast would consist of a cup of tea and some toast. Nothing too fancy and nothing that took too long to prepare. The only issue was boiling the kettle and having to avoid swallowing boiling hot liquid. Still once I got married (and Mrs V was going to work) it became:
Get up, get dressed, make breakfast and go to work.
Responsibility for tea making was on my shoulders, because Mrs V sees any time spent waiting for a kettle to boil as wasted life. This is how it was for a long time until the Time of the Children. Then I had to:
Get up, get dressed, go put the kettle on for my tea, make (freshly ground) coffee for Mrs V, make my tea, make tea for the kids wake up the grumpy dinos, get ready for work, get the little ones dressed, drink cold tea and go to work.
To fit all this in I am getting up earlier and earlier. It makes me worried what happens should another come along. I seem to have little time in my life to do all I want and the only place we can make temporal cuts seems to be sleep.
Soon my life while be a string of actions separated by commas with no space to add ‘rest’.
Viva Ergo Sum 