Peanut's on a Schedule

Let me just say that life has gotten a skagillion times easier now that peanut has found a routine.

Going into parenting, I thought all those books that preached about scheduling your child were hog wash. I figured Peanut would let us know when he's tired, hungry.... No need to force him to eat just because the clock says it's time. I was not going to be one of those Nazi parents who force their kids to nap at 1:00 just because it was "nap time."

Oh how wrong was I. Live and learn. We started with a bedtime routine. Dinner, little play time, bath then bed. Nothing fancy. The more we've done this, the more he wants to bypass playtime for bath time. Peanut is a splashing and slippery baby who lives for bathtime.
He has always had a morning routine, because he needs to be fed before Mommy heads to work. The last trick was hammering down a mid-day habit, but that too has finally fallen in to place.
Sure we don't look at a clock and feed at exactly the same time every day, but we follow his cues too and we're usually within a half hour of the target time.
To be completely honest, it has made such a difference. He goes down for naps without as much struggle when he isn't super tired because he should have been napping an hour earlier. His naps have lasted longer. Most wonderfully, I now have quiet time with my husband before getting to bed so much earlier than I would have imagined myself doing.