Monday, Monday... catch up blogging...

I just want to say that I am RETRO blogging this entire week!  and a week full of mostly retro pics!


I have to note that there are at least 14 more "Mondays" of the choir year.  I love having the girls in choir.  I love visiting with all those women!  I really do... but it is still hard to be gone all day, every Monday!  I think it is one of the best decisions we have made, truthfully.. but still it's hard. 

I think if I were a more organized person it would be LESS hard.  I KNOW that if I were a more organized person it would be less hard!  So trying desperately of ways to make the day go smoother.  I mean while I am THERE it is pretty good, minus a few Emily issues.  But it is the getting ready (i.e. having been to the grocery store so I can pack a lunch!) and knowing I won't be home all day doing "x" that gets me.  If more things were kept up at home, I wouldn't mind being gone!

I cleaned half the weekend, like move furniture and vacuum and sweep-- kinda clean!  I didn't finish, but I got a good start!  I need to really SPRING clean.  But I haven't got the time to do it all at once so I broke things down into sections and hope to hit them here and there. 

I KNOW in my head and in my heart that if things were more routine, our house would run better. I mean not only is that common knowledge but I have particular people in my  home and their personalities run best on routine.

Dave is so much better when we have a routine.  He functions better all around.  It is not HIS routine, but mine that helps.  Whether this is because obviously if I am in my routine and things are getting done.. he has undershirts folded in his drawer or dinner on the table when he walks in AND that works for him. OR because the just the order of routine works for him period---I think its the latter.

If I always had his undershirts in the a basket at the end of the bed (never folded and put away), he wouldn't CARE... but he would do better knowing they are there.  But when one day they are folded in his drawer, one day they are on the folding table, one day they are in a basket..... it causes his routine to stumble.. WHO WOULDN'T!  

Kate does better with routine because she is a little obsessive and it helps to curb that.  If we are really pushing or routine she is less inclined to go off on an art bender or whatever obsession she is currently on.  She can put aside what she is "enthusiastic" about in the moment and do "x", "x" and "x", because it is a routine... but when we are just FREE FOR ALL... she doesn't do anything without being asked because she is in her own world.  :0)

Emily does better with routine because it 1. limits the number of times she has to change course or switch gears in the day (which is always a problem)  2. helps her feel in control because she knows what comes next (and helps her need less control in other areas)  3. gives her a sense of calm, the less anxious she is because we are in routine... the better our days flow.  and 4. it helps me be able to parent her because I can calmly say "Emily you know we always start math after lunch, of course you can't "x""... and she can't argue if it  is the routine, but if one day I let her do one thing and the next day another SHE FLOUNDERS and asks, and gets mad when I need to say no... etc.

Matt-- well Matt just likes things to go one way and although he can switch gears easier than Emily... it still takes effort.  If he knows ahead that something in the day will be out of the norm-- it is NO problem at all.  He just doesn't do well with last minute changes or what he thought was going to be happening and there is suddenly a change.  Don't get me wrong-- he never throws a fit or anything.. but you can see that he has to mentally shift gears and gather himself.  (he is a little like me on this one.--- just give me a minute and let me recalculate!)

SO.. lots of reasons to be better at routine than I am... but yet I struggle, daily, hourly!  BIG FAT SIGH.

I am going to finish some of the more visual house cleaning today and I have lesson plans that MUST be done... then grocery store and getting ready for the week is paramount!