5.5 year old life and daily routine. Learn about her daily schedule and how to handle things that come up with five year olds.
This time period had two major events for Kaitlyn. One was the birth of her new sister. The other was the start of Kindergarten.
Post Contents
EATING
Eating is the same but not flawless. She is still picky about her food. We made a rule that she is not allowed to say “I don’t like it” when she comes to the table. If she does (or anyone does), she (they) leaves the table for five minutes.
SLEEPING
As you may have read previously on the blog, we moved Kaitlyn out of sharing a room with McKenna and into sharing a room with Brayden.
The Brayden and Kaitlyn combo works really well for room sharing. We read to Kaitlyn, she goes to bed, and by the time Brayden is done reading his book with us, she is more often than not fast asleep. When she isn’t, they are both good about just going to sleep.
We needed to move her out because she was getting so very tired. She was not getting the sleep she needed.
She quietly told me one night how tired she was and that she wished she could sleep alone.
Kaitlyn is such a peacemaker that she didn’t make a big deal out of it; I knew that since she said something, it was a real problem for her.
So we made every effort and moved her in with Brayden and we are glad we did. It works well, also, since they are on a more similar schedule.
EXTRA CURRICULAR
Here are the activities she participated in this last quarter.
Swimming Lessons
We continue to take swimming lessons. Kaitlyn is a great swimmer and is doing very well with her lessons.
>>>Read: How Parents Can Help with Swimming Lessons
Dance Class/Tumbling
Dance class started back up! Kaitlyn loves dancing. There is also a tumbling class.
Piano Lessons
Kaitlyn started piano lessons this Fall. She has loved it and has amazed me with some very natural talent at it.
>>>Read: How to Know if Your Child is Ready for Piano Lessons
With Baby?
Some of you have asked how I do things like this with baby. I will write a post on it, but wanted to address it until then.
I put a lot of thought and effort into making sure I could impact the baby as little as possible with the extra activities. For some things, my husband takes the kids while I stay home with the baby for now (like swimming lessons). I hate missing things, but it is a short time frame before the baby will be able to go to swimming lessons.
For other things, we carpool. Kaitlyn’s dance class is one thing we carpool with. There is a girl on our street in her class. We choose a class time that my husband could drive the girls to on his way to work from lunch break, and my neighbor picks them up from dance class. I works out very well.
I also planned piano so my husband could drive if I couldn’t.
Another thing I do is get someone to watch my baby–most often my mom.
>>>Read: Managing Baby Plus Older Kids’ Activities
NEW BABY
Of all of our children, Kaitlyn was the most “go with the flow” with the addition of a baby to the family. Brayden always gets a bit of anxiety–though it is short lived.
McKenna was fine on an emotional level but very, very excited about it. Kaitlyn adores Brinley and loves to hold her and play with her, but she is very calm about it all. It is almost like to Kaitlyn, Brinley has always been here.
KINDERGARTEN
Kaitlyn is loving and thriving in Kindergarten. She has a great teacher who works to challenge her. She was named citizen of the month her first month in school. Kaitlyn is a “sweetheart” who is always helping.
At home, we often get the “Kindertude” as I now call it. I remember Brayden doing this and my friends all telling me it is what their kids did as Kindergarteners.
They now are in a big school and think themselves to be about the smartest, most important person to grace the planet. It doesn’t last forever. It can be frustrating at moments, but it passes. We just remind her that she is not in charge and that she has a mommy and daddy who are.
SCHEDULE
Half of this was summer and half was school. I will do school since that is where we are now.
7:00–wake up. Eat breakfast. Get Ready. Free Play until school.
Go to school.
Come home from school.
12:00–Lunch
1:00–Learning Activities Time
1:30–Play with McKenna
2:00–Independent Playtime
3:00–Practice piano and homework if she has it. Time with Mommy.
4:00–TV time
5-5:30–dinner. Family time
7:30–start getting ready for bed
8:30–in bed
GOOD BOOKS
- On Becoming Childwise
- Love and Logic Magic
- Preschooler’s Busy Book: 365 Creative Games & Activities To Occupy 3-6 Year Olds
- The Siblings’ Busy Book
- The Five Love Languages of Children
- Parenting With Love And Logic (Updated and Expanded Edition)
RELATED POSTS
- Kaitlyn Child Summary: 5.25 Years Old
- Kaitlyn Child Summary: 5.75 Years
- Brayden Child Summary: 5.5 Years Old
- McKenna Child Summary: 5.5 Years Old
- Brinley Child Summary: 5 Years 6 Months Old
i am so happy to hear about "kindertude"!:) I never heard that term but heard it's pretty common but if Kaitlyn is affected by it (and she sounds your angel kid) then I know it's normal here! We are dealing with a lot of pouting. She just doesn't like something and it's pouting and sulking. I mean i would do isolation but it can be first thing in the morning and we have to rush off for school. We don't have time to address attitude at the breakfast table because of this as well (i mean with a timeout,etc). She's always been a bit emotional/sensitive but it's really been since starting school. I chalk it up partly to adjustment, maybe tired (but we do EBT and she's asking for it!:) maybe just because she misses us. I've been rereading the 5 Love Languages as I think Quality Time is her main (that and physical touch) so I'm trying to figure it out. It's hard to balance it all. This weekend we had some 1 on 1 alone a bit but as soon as her sister joined us the same started, so i didn't really see a change with 1 on 1. Anyways I am trying to figure it out and i'm glad you shared about Kaitlyn.
Ha ha Yvonne. I totally made that word up. Yes kaitlyn sounds very similar. I am so glad she has half day school and not full day.
It's great that you have so much help available (husband, neighbors, mom) to ensure you can be attentive to your baby's needs as well as run the kids around to their various activities. Not everyone has this kind of support, and I wonder, if you didn't, how would you do things differently? Would you forgo some of the extracurricular activities, or would you sacrifice the baby's schedule?
Melissa I would probably do some of both. I would also shift the baby's schedule to make it work with activities. For example, if I had to drive McKenna to dance, I would get brinley up right when it was time to go, then nurse her in the car in the parking lot of the dance stufio once McKenna was in class. So there are ways I could make it work, but my mom is happy to help and likes to have some time one on one with McKenna and it gives me a chance to have time one on one with brinley.