Disroutine

Everyone touts the routine. Kids like it, they say. You’ll like it, they say.

Well, they didn’t meet Amaya.

She’s teaching me more than all the books I’ve read on the subject. Routines don’t thrill us all. I myself get depressed when I realize I’m in a routine. Any routine. Especially if I think that routine is going to continue. So why should I think it’s always going to be good for her?

And some people like them. Good for you. I admire schedules and note taking and Spring cleaning. But once I start doing it I feel like I want to scream. I don’t get that feeling of accomplishment that people talk about either. I feel like I never ever want to do that again. That’s the problem with routines. It’s bound to show up again.

Amaya’s okay with a routine. Meaning, she doesn’t mind it. Meaning, she tolerates it. Meaning, it takes about 4 months for her to settle into one even if you are completely and totally faithful and insist that she put herself to sleep or come when you count to five before she gets time out or that every single day we have to brush her hair. She’s extremely sure that this time, even though we’ve never ever gone a day without taking a bath or shower, that if she throws a tantrum she will not have to. And I still have to RE-put her in time out about 10 million times because she does not stay there.

What she really lives for is when I say, “It’s furlough Friday, and you don’t have to go to school.”

On Friday morning she woke up and I told her that, and she was completely thrilled that everything we did that day would be spontaneous, unscheduled, and in our control, rather than a routine’s control.

Robbie came over with Kadin. Yes! She would love to go to the beach right now! So we went. 

Then she said we should make some lunch, and she helped me.

Daddy came home after his class, and she looked around in the fridge for something else to eat. How about a humongous strawberry? Yes. “Are we having a special day?” she asked. Yes.

What? Is that Mikey and Minami? Here? She ran to Pammy’s house and I could hear cackling all the way around the house.

Daddy was getting ready to go get his exercise, but it started raining. So, yes, Amaya would love to go to the beach. Again.

A long bucket bath later with M&M in the big tub, she got dressed and I told her it was time to brush her hair. Because we always brush her hair.

Tantrum.

We brushed anyway, and then I let her know we were going to go out to eat. With Robbie, Scott, and Kadin. She jumped for joy and clapped her hands. I’m not joking.

She fell asleep in the car seat on the way home, so we put her to bed. Without brushing her teeth.

For once. I’m a fanatic about teeth brushing, y’know.