Routines, School, and Meltdowns

My son is starting pre-school in two weeks.  To say that I’m in denial is an understatement.  I know he needs this.  I know he is ready.  But I am not…at all.  He got the sweetest postcard from his teacher sometime in late July – his first piece of mail from someone not related to him and not from the Gerber Life Insurance plan.  He was jacked, I melted down.

I’m anxious for so many reasons….

What if no one plays with him on the playground?

What if he melts down at the door and doesn’t want me to leave?  How am I going to hold it together?

What if we are still fighting the same fights we do every morning this summer about motivation to get dressed in something other than a new pair of pajamas?

People who are much wiser than me – namely many of the Mama’s on this site as well as you who are reading this – tell me that one way to get over this anxiety of sending my son to school is to really get back into a routine.  If you know me, routine and I are not anything to go together very well, but for my mental health, I’m working this week to give it a shot.  Here are things I’m trying in prep for the weeks to come.

Consistent Routines

Inspired by LivingLocurto.com, I’ve started using her free printables (like the picture below) to help establish a good morning routine for us.  Once the card is done, I have my son take the card down and put it in the basket.  If the cards are all down you get a star on a poster which will lead to a semi fabulous prize – TBD of course.

Lay Out Clothes Before Bed

My husband, the super routine based super-human, does this every night.  I’ve watched how crazy he goes when he doesn’t do this.  He even does it on the weekends for his workout clothes.  Yeah, he is nuts but so cute I keep him around.  We are trying a bit more of a longer term method.

I picked up the SKUBB organizer at Ikea for about $7.99.  We are working on Sunday nights, put out all the outfits for the week in the organizer so in the mornings, we just have to grab and go.  One week into it…I’ll keep you posted as to how this goes.  Also note, this is for my son only, I’m still a hot mess in the am but I work at home so that is OK.

Make lunch the night before

Are you sensing a trend yet – I’m not a morning person.  My creative time is from about 3-5 pm.  That being said, when it comes to lunches, I need to be a bit more creative in the morning.  I’ve taken to Pinterest to help me with that.  There are a bunch of great boards out there for toddler lunch ideas….and I started this board here if you want to follow some great ideas out there to help with that creativity slump.

I’ve also picked up a few products to help with organizing lunches in the am.

I ordered a few of the Ziplock Divided Lunchboxes.  I found mine at Amazon.com.  They are BPA free and are great for making lunch ahead of time and keeping you from having to use a million different snack bags for every lunch.
Cookie cutters are great at distracting them from the fact that they may just actually be eating healthy.  I ordered these, also from Amazon, but you can find them almost everywhere.

Praise and Lots of Hugs and Cuddles

This moment is only going to happen once.  With another baby coming in January and all these new changes happening in a matter of weeks, I’ve been making the conscious choice to slow down, praise him for what a good kid he is, and soak up all those funny, quirky things that make my son my son.  Oh crap, here come the tears…off to meltdown…I can do this right?!