His Routine, My Mania

Our son has formed a routine like I've never had. The closest I've ever been was my last semester in college.

That semester I had to take eighteen credit hours - six classes. I wasn't going to sacrifice my social life for my education, though. Classes started between 9:30 and 11:00am, so I got there around 9:00am and stayed there until 7 or 8:00pm. When I got home, I was ready to party.

These days, I'm in a different sort of routine. I get up before 7:00am to feed our son and drive my wife to work. She's up around 5:30 or 6:00am, as she spends extra time with him before being gone for the day. I have specific times that I need to feed him, put him down for naps, and play with him. He takes a bath every other day. We have playgroup every Tuesday and Gymboree on Thursdays.

While he's in his routine, though, he's thrown me out of mine. His morning nap is fairly consistent, but his afternoon nap can last one to four hours.

That means, while our son is getting everything that he needs, I can't do the things I need to. The gym hasn't seen my face in almost a month. I used to go two or three days a week. If I don't get my act together during his morning nap, I can't run errands. If I do, then I miss his afternoon nap. If I wait for his afternoon nap, I don't know if he'll wake up so that we can go out and back before my wife gets home. Now that he's eating solid foods but is particular about how it's presented to him, I have to do remember more things to bring every time we leave the house. (And anyone who knows me knows how superior my memory is.) As I get better at one thing, like getting him on his routine, I get out of mine and my life becomes less certain.

There are still things that I can count on. He still poops and pees. He still laughs and smiles a lot. He's mesmerized by the trains that pass by our condo regularly. He naps during the day and sleeps through the night. Those are the highlights of my day. Mundane? Maybe to the layperson. When that smile is directed at you, you know that you're having a good day.