The house move has had an impact on the girls' routine. In the old house, the bathroom was downstairs and we had R and G's day pretty much nailed. The new house, with an upstairs bathroom, has led to some small changes.
Under the old regime, they went downstairs for their first nappy change of the day and were put in their highchairs for their morning milk. Now, they are changed in the upstairs bathroom before going downstairs for their milk.
In the evening, they used to have a bath, then milk, then upstairs for pyjamas and story time. For the first few nights in the new house, we experimented with giving the girls their milk in the bedroom after their bath and before story time but found they couldn't focus on it and took ages to drink half the bottle.
This evening G decided to implement a little alteration of her own and it seems to have worked. They now have their milk downstairs at 6pm, have a little play afterwards and go up for their bath and story at 6.30pm, so that they are in bed by 7pm. It's just the first night, but I think it might just work.
On non-nursery days the girls sit at the dining table to have breakfast with dh and/or I - something that was difficult to do in the old house due to the space constraints. I'm also planning to do the same at lunch time so that's it's more of a fun, sociable occasion rather than a routine drag.
As dh and I unpacked last week, we commented that there are going to be many more changes to the girls' routine over the next year. At some point after their 2nd birthday we'll have to look at dropping the morning milk entirely. This time next year they might be potty trained, although I'm in deep denial about the whole process. Their high chairs will (hopefully) be a distant memory. They may have given up the buggy. We might even be feeling brave enough to take down some of the stairgates and room divides.
Although I'm still terrified about potty training, the other changes seem less radical somehow now. As G demonstrated tonight, the girls will let us know when they are ready to make changes.
