How Our Toddler (and I) Handle Mornings

I'm not going to lie. There is nothing picture-perfect about how we do mornings at the Knerl house. Lately, my 2-year-old has been super problematic by skipping his afternoon nap and trying to take it late (after 5pm late.) Then, he wakes up at 7, stays up until after midnight, and then gets up as early at 6 am! (Often before our rooster does!)


If you do the math on that, I'm not getting much sleep at all, and I need all the help I can get in the morning. For that reason, we've opted to making things super simple. We have a very basic list of to-do's that goes:

1. Potty and dress
2. Teeth and face
3. Breakfast
4. TV

Yes, that last one is intentional. It means that I can cuddle up and snooze a bit on the couch with him, if I need it or an older sibling can help with the first 3 before they all veg out together while mama rests.

To make things as simple as possible, we lay everything out the night before.  It looks something like this:

One outfit, a Huggies diaper (they are easier to put on in the morning) and a package of Huggies wipes.  Manny uses the potty and gets hands and face wiped clean.


We also have him brush for a minute by himself, using a toddler toothbrush and a little bit of training toothpaste (it has no fluoride.) After he's satisfactorily sucked the toothpaste off and chewed on the brush a bit, I help him with the actual job of scrubbing those teeth!

Then we do this:

One hard-boiled egg, halved, with the yolk removed. One Go-Gurt. One Crystal Farms cheese stick. One half orange, sliced. Everything goes into a Tupperware so that it can be quickly plated in the morning.


By having all of these pieces in place, we are set to go! Then, when Manny wakes up ANYONE over the age of 8 can step in and play big brother or big sister to him. Things get done Knerl-style, and that's alright by me!

What about the TV? Right now, he's big into Wild Kratts and Word World. If I don't want him taking our precious rural bandwidth, I just pop in a DVD. There are so many episodes to choose from!

What do you do to get your little one ready for the day? In the summer I can imagine it's a bit more laid back. And since we don't have to rush off to daycare, we also have the beautiful option of letting the kid sleep in. If and when that ever happens....


Of course we can buy all of our night-before items, as well as the beautiful bright oranges Manny likes, at Walmart. You can shop for your little one's day all in one place. It's quite convenient!



As a participant in the Walmart Moms Program, I've received compensation for my time and efforts in creating this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.  Links to shopping sites may be referral links.

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