The Naptime Challenge

Lil' bud always goes to sleep on Dad or me at home. But at daycare, he can fall asleep on his own, on a cot. I've finally decided, after 15 months, that I need to teach him to fall asleep in his crib. (Actually, I decided this months ago, but haven't been able to do it.)

I finally realized that we can fight this battle at nap time, rather than at bedtime when I am exhausted. So I have started our family Naptime Challenge, and I will fight this battle every day (except when Lil' bud is at daycare).

The Rules:

1. This begins with lunch at 11:00, his normal lunch time.
   
2. After lunch, turn on music and dance and play for a while.
   
3. 12:00 is a diaper change, turn down the lights in his bedroom and turn on the sound machine.
   
4. Help Lil' bud get comfortable in his bed by singing songs, reading stories, and talking for a short while.
   
5. I go sit on the rocking chair and read until Lil' bud is sound asleep.
   
6. Use the words "lie down" when encouraging Lil' bud to lie down (with the goal that he will, eventually, do this when I say it without me getting up)
   
7. When Lil' bud is very worked up, use deep pressure on arms and legs to help him relax while he is lying down.
   
8. Count to three before getting out of the chair to put him down, as I say I will help him lie down. (with the goal that, eventually, counting to 3 will work to get him to listen. When he's older.)
   
9. Stay in his room until he is sound asleep.
   
10. Ends at 3:00, or after he has been asleep for at least 45 continuous minutes.
    

Random thoughts

Random thoughts of a non-medicated adult with ADHD

(coming out of the fog of surfing the internet, blah, blah, blah. Starts out in the home office)

Oh, shoot, my phone's ringing. Daycare may be calling.

Where is the phone? I don't see it on the living room couch, is it in the kitchen? (goes to kitchen)

Shoot, I started the tea kettle to make tea, and it's boiling, probably has been boiling for a while.

Makes tea (which is now probably getting too strong and needs sugar).

This is crazy. I should blog about how random all of this is.

Aha! My purse is on the yellow rocking chair; my phone is in it.

Back to the home office to blog.

(Note that all of this transpired in about … 30 seconds …)

Now I'm off to take out the tea bag and add sugar. Then maybe I will get to the second thing on my list from earlier (first after eat lunch.) Focus just isn't there today …

Procrastination confession

Good morning, is it really 11:00 already? I need to leave for lunch in 15 minutes and have done nothing today. Or it feels like it. How can I do nothing in 5 hours? I have:

• Played solitare on the computer (but did I really do that for more than 10 minutes or so?)
  
• Checked e-mail
  
• Finished a blog post
  
• Played on Twitter
  
• Rotated the laundry and folded what was in the dryer
  
• Taken DS to school, after we napped together
  
• Prepared dinner – it's in the crock pot. (Corned beef, yum)
  
• Went to the post office to check mail
  

I should have been doing client work this morning. And I need to.

(distraction: I really need to close tweetdeck sometimes!!!)

So this afternoon, I will:

• Eat a good lunch (looking forward to it!) and get some caffeine in my system
  
• Draft the minutes from the church meeting last week
  
• Call my business partner
  
• Spend 20 minutes on a blog post
  
• Call 1 clients
  
• Research for 1 client for 20 minutes
  
• Call 2 "other people"
  

Other than lunch, that should take me no more than 2 ½ hours. It feels like a long list, I have to remember it's really not!

Office Hats

I am a completely disorganized (yes, I'll admit it) work-at-home-mom with my own business. How do I keep it together? One step at a time, but I am trying to create systems and routines that make it easier on me (and my family).

Today I sat down and thought about what I would have if I worked in a "real" law firm. You know, all those little things I don't want to do because they take away from my billables. There's quite a lot, actually. First, I would have a set work schedule. OK, I can do that. DS is in daycare, so his daycare days help define my work schedule. I need time without him to do some housework, so I need to set some hours while he's in daycare to do household things as well (cleaning, laundry, that type of thing).

The scheduling has worked pretty well at least today. I considered the time I dropped him off as my time to start work – I did a planning session and hit the ground running. When I got home, I kept reminding myself that I'm not "home" until later today, when I can take care of the dishwasher, etc. I'll get "off work" about 2 hours before I pick up DS from daycare, hopefully enough time to get the house somewhat manageable.

The second thing I would have if I worked in a "real" office is support staff. I would have a janitor, a bookkeeper/accountant, a secretary/paralegal (in an ideal world), and an office manager. So I assigned chores to these people – what would each of these people be doing so I can do my work? I also listed my "lawyer" job description.

Then, I started working – I brought the janitor in for 30 minutes to clean. Wow, my office looks better! Then the janitor left and I worked as a secretary for another 30 minutes. Decided that's not nearly enough time, but at least I made a dent. The office manager then came back in and did more planning. Now I am freed up to be a lawyer for the rest of the afternoon. And, the best part – I actually feel like I've gotten things accomplished today! Recently I've had the feeling that I'm spinning my wheels and spending all day not getting anything done, so I feel much better about what I've done today.

I finally feel like I'm getting some progress toward having systems in place. Yay me!

Judith Jones

I got my brother Judith Jones's book "The Pleasures of Cooking for One" for Christmas.  After paging through it, I was hooked.  She has edited TONS of cookbooks (including Fannie Farmer and Julia Child), but written only 1 other book, a memoir.

I got her memoir from the library a few weeks ago and LOVE IT.  She has really gotten me more interested in cooking good foods.  I made macaroni and cheese from scratch twice now, and decided I don't want DS to learn what box mac & Cheese is like. (Had me some leftover for lunch, YUM!)  She is fun and easy to read, and tells a story in a paragraph or 2, so you can pretty much pick it up, flip to a random page, and find something interesting and complete to read.

Got an overdue notice from the library, the book is due. *sob* If you want to give me a birthday or christmas present someday, this is a good one!  (Matt, I hope you like her book as much as I did!)