I am finally getting round to posting Eduardo's 18 Month Update (at 21 months old!). Oops! Sorry it's taken me so long. But here is a little look at his current daily routine:
7:30/8am Wake up, call for mummy/daddy, snuggle in our bed or play with Emilia if she's awake too.
8:30am Breakfast time! He almost always eats porridge cooked on the stove with whole milk, honey, cinnamon and a few raisins mixed in. He also eats half a banana (shared with Emilia) and has water to drink.
9am - 11:30am On weekdays Eduardo always has a morning activity...for example swimming, toddler dance class, playgroup, soft play and toddler arts & crafts. If he doesn't do something in the morning he normally won't go down for his nap very well so even on weekends we make sure to try and take him outside so he gets some fresh air! (That totally makes him sound like a pet dog...ha ha, sorry Eduardo.)
12/12:30pm Lunch time! Eduardo is not fussy at all and will eat most things I give him. Lately he's been loving carrots & parsnips with bulgur/rice/quinoa and some sort of meat like chicken, meatballs or fish. He has a drink of milk and if he's still hungry he gets an organic yoghurt.
1/1:30pm By this time Emilia is back from nursery so the children have a bit of playtime together (in other words - trash the sitting room!) before Eduardo goes down for his afternoon nap.
2pm Eduardo still sleeps for about 2 hours in the afternoon which is a huge blessing as it allows me to get stuff done! Even with Emilia not napping anymore, she is really good and will usually do some sort of quiet activity while I work. For the meantime Eduardo sleeps in his cot - we did take the bars off a while ago but had to put them back on as he just wasn't ready to make the transition! Now that they're back he's been going to sleep really well again. He also HATES pillows! I tried putting Emilia's toddler pillow in his cot about a month ago but he despises it and refuses to go to sleep if it's in there!
4pm Eduardo wakes up from his nap and both kids have a snack. We normally have fruit or fruit salad with water to drink.
5pm This is usually playtime aka trash the sitting room time...ha ha ha. Actually it's really nice that Emilia & Eduardo play together so well. They do lots of imaginary role-play or love to do puzzles/play with Duplo/Play-doh or draw/paint.
6pm Dinner time! Again Eduardo is generally not a fussy eater so he will have whatever we're having as a family. Like I've always done I make sure we sit down to eat dinner together and although it can get stressful if the kids are acting up or don't like what's being served...I know it's a good family habit to have. (Or at least I tell myself that when food is being flung in different directions and I'm on the verge of a breakdown, ha ha.) Both Emilia & Eduardo get a cup of milk with their dinner and some sort of pudding/sweet treat afterwards.
6:30/7pm This is normally the time I allow the children to watch TV (on weekdays that is...at the weekend I'm way more chilled about it! But I figure during the week they should focus on other activities during the day if that makes sense.) So they will watch Doc McStuffins, Peppa Pig, Paw Patrol, Sofia the First, Blaze and the Monster Machines or if Emilia allows it - Eduardo's all-time favourite that he now knows all the words to...FROZEN!
7:30pm This is bath-time. Eduardo takes a bath every evening with Emilia and we wash their hair twice a week. They LOVE taking their bath and I feel like it's a wonderful bonding experience for them. They always play together or make up silly games...it's really sweet to watch! After their bath they get their cream & pyjamas on...and we try to have them in bed by 8.
8pm Notice how I said "we try" to have them in bed by this time. Yeah, it doesn't always go according to plan! Jonathan will almost always get them incredibly hyper running around their rooms with them or more recently dragging them around on a "sled" (changing mat). So 8pm normally turns into about 8:30! Since I stopped breastfeeding at 12 months I started putting Emilia down and Jonathan does Eduardo. It wasn't even a conscious decision we made I think it just happened naturally as I really missed putting Emilia to bed and Jonathan wanted more bonding time with Eduardo!
If we have had a fairly normal routine day, Eduardo will sleep through the night with no problems. On occasion Jonathan or I will have to go back up to put him to sleep again and over Christmas was a bit of a nightmare but that was when his cot bars were down. Now everything is back to normal and he is sleeping through till 7:30/8. Thankfully both Emilia & Eduardo have always been good sleepers! And that's his everyday routine. Obviously bear in mind like ALWAYS that these are loose time-frames and we are not robots who do absolutely everything according to a rigid schedule! But we do tend to stick with a general daily routine as I find it really helps with babies/toddlers and keeping them happy and content! I hope this post helped some of you guys out there and let me know if you have any questions!
You can watch our full 18 Month Update which we filmed together here!
