How we do it: Daily Schedule

Our daily schedule is very important to our family and our parenting.  It sets up the girls for success as well as gives me a much needed sense of accomplishment.  Tinks behavior is drastically better when I follow the schedule and she knows exactly what is next in our day.  It's pretty much the same every day.  The main thing that changes is that on weekends or days in which we have to get out of the house for whatever reason, we go during Tinks learning time which is usually a time in which both girls are awake.  I try my very best to preserve both girls' sleep needs and be respectful to their needs for a successful sleep environment.  Below is our general daily schedule:

Time	Me	Tinker Bell	Lulu
	Up, laundry, empty dishwasher
6	Pump, have all learning time materials ready, “swoosh and swipe” bathrooms, etc.
	Shower, get ready, heat Lulu's bottle
7	Get Lulu while Hubby gets Tink	Hubby gets her out of bed; dressed; hair, etc.	Out of bed; bottle
	Make breakfast; meds for Lulu	Play, help with breakfast	Play; take meds
8	Feed girls (solids for Lulu) and eat; clean up	Eat	Eat
	Walk	Walk	Walk
9	Put Tink in ip and Lulu to nap; offer Lulu another bottle before nap	IP	Nap
	Run around and clean like a crazy lady; pump	IP	Nap
10	Get Tink from ip	Clean up IP; diaper	Nap
	Tink learning time	Learning time	Nap
11	Lulu up and feed bottle; Start lunch	Learning activity	Bottle
	Feed girls (solids for Lulu) and eat; clean up	Eat	Eat
12	Play with girls	Play	Play
	Nap time for Tink	Nap	Hang out and do stuff with mommy
1	Nap time for Lulu; offer her another bottle	Nap	Hang out and do stuff with mommy; nap
	Organize stuff; go on computer; whatever needs to be done	Nap	Nap
2	Pump	Nap	Nap
		Nap	Nap
3	Get Tink up; diaper; hair	Get up and ready	Nap
	Make snack and juice for Tink	Snack and drink	Up and bottle
4	Stories	Stories	Stories/Play
	Stories	Stories	Stories/Play
5	Hubby home	Play with Daddy	Play with Daddy
	Start dinner	Free play or family walk	Free play or family walk
6	Eat; Pump	Eat	Hang out while we eat- eventually she’ll also eat dinner
	Clean up; start bedtime routine	Play with Daddy	Play with Daddy
7	Bedtime routine	Bath and bedtime	Bath and bedtime
8:45	Pump

We also have a hanging poster thing that has our daily schedule on it that I go over every morning with the girls.  I change it so that it meets our day and Tink can have a visual of where we are in the day and what she will be doing that day.  She does best when she's informed and has time to process.  This greatly decreases tantrum behavior as well as makes our day flow more smoothly.  Here is a picture of the daily schedule that we have hanging on the wall.

 I also have a calendar hanging next to the daily schedule.

We go over the days of the week and months of the year as well as take about our plans.  She has a semi-structured learning time after independent play every day.  I will go over learning time in another post.