Finding Time to Get Something Done

What do you know – we seem to have reached the stage where it’s possible to get something done and have a baby underfoot. Perhaps I’m reaching this realization late. My husband doesn’t seem to have any problem doing what he wants to do while he’s on baby duty. But I don’t like River to feel as though he’s losing out on attention.

River doesn’t mind not being the focus of attention though if he’s fixated on something that’s important to him. This morning, after breastfeeding him and giving him some time with dad, I put him in the highchair for breakfast. Here’s a tip – if you want some time to get things done, try a day-old bagel. I gave him a chunk of day-old high-fiber power bagel that I’d purchased for myself but didn’t get around to eating. He likes it, but it was chewy and getting a little firm. So it took a long time for him to gnaw on it.

While he was busy, and safe in his chair, I managed to sort through his clothes, get rid of everything under size 12 months, bring up some bigger clothes from the basement, sort through them, and put some of them away. We received a ton of clothes from a woman who had clearly spent a lot on her two boys, then ended up having a girl for her third child and wanted to get rid of the stored clothing. It’s fun to bring up a new box and see what surprises are there. I enjoyed finding a black sweatshirt with glow-in-the-dark letters that read Boo! It should work well at Halloween time.

I fed River some yogurt, cleaned him up and took him to the bathroom. The one downside of letting breakfast drag on for well over an hour is that he doo-dooed in his pants. It was worth it this morning though.

Then I gave him some free play time, and again I was able to pick up and arrange things while he moved around. When I wanted to do something on the computer, I let him play in the exersaucer in the office.

Usually our mornings are taken up by the eating routine and then a long walk with the stroller. I missed out on my exercise this morning, but was really pleased to realize that it is possible to get a couple of things done with a baby underfoot. I can’t imagine doing anything that required concentration or analysis, except when he’s sleeping, but this still helps.

What tricks have you found to occupy your kids so that you can get things done?