Our Evening Routine For A 21 Month Old

What does your typical evening routine for a 21 month old (or around that age) look like?

I’m lucky because both me and my husband are home most nights so we handle our son’s bedtime routine together. We usually trade off jobs for our little guy – one gives the bath while the other one gets his room picked up and pajamas laid out. Then the next night we switch. I’ll admit though… Dent prefers J to give him his bath because he plays a lot harder and splashes a lot more water.

We found by sticking to a similar routine each night, it makes things a lot easier on our little guy (and us). The nights we have to switch things up or are running behind are the nights we tend to pay for it… plus it may take Dent a night or two to get back on track, too. Here’s are average evening routine for a 21 month old:

5:00-6:00

Pick up the little one from the sitter and come home to help with dinner. We usually have dinner by 5:30 or so and typically J will have it started by the time we get home. So it’s just a few finishing touches then we sit down together at the kitchen table. After we eat it’s clean up time. We usually clean the kitchen together – one of us putting away dirty dishes while the other one wipes down the table and entertains Dent.

6:00 – 7:00

Playtime. We don’t work on any other chores around the house and focus on playing with Dent. If the weather is nice, which it’s the middle of winter in Southeast Missouri so the weather is never nice, we will go outside to play on the swing set. If we’re inside then we play, work on colors and shapes together and just spend time as a family.

7:00 – 7:30

We start our bedtime routine. Dent gets a bath, we read for a few minutes and then it’s off to bed. He’s usually sound asleep by 7:30 on most nights – some nights are better than others, but he’s pretty good about falling asleep quickly.

7:30 – 8:00

We work on any laundry that needs to get done and then we focus on chores around the house. We try to tackle a different house chore each night so by the weekend we aren’t spending all day cleaning or catching up on laundry.

Monday – dishes and clean kitchen
Tuesday – laundry and sweep
Wednesday – dust, clean kitchen and clean bathrooms
Thursday – laundry, sweep and mop

On the weekends we try to keep the house picked up and the kitchen straightened so it’s not hard to get back on track the next week.

8:00 – 9:30

After the house and chores all are done, then it’s time to relax. J and I usually pile on the couch with our dogs, blankets and I grab the laptop. We watch a show on Netflix and I work on editing a video or finishing up a blog post.

Here’s a few tips to make nighttime a bit easier:

Divide and conquer – if able too. If not, then just try to plan as much as possible. On the nights I’m home alone or J is we make sure to get any pajamas laid out before bath time so we aren’t scrambling around.

Get ready for the next morning – I like to make his milk with any medicine (that he gets with breakfast) and his sippy cup for the sitter’s house the night before. I get all the cups, snacks, and diaper bag ready to walk out the door before we go to bed. That way if we’re running behind or he sleeps in then I don’t have to worry about it.

Buy easy to prepare breakfast foods – this goes along with getting things ready (and not much on the evening routine, but it helps!). I like to have breakfast foods that are easy to heat up and serve. So if that means scrambling some eggs before going to bed so I just have to heat them up the next morning then so be it.

Teach your little one to pick up toys – I love that Dent helps pick up toys before going to bed. Now I’ll admit he isn’t perfect, but he does help!

Use a white noise machine (here’s the one we use) to help them sleep through the night. We love our machine, it helps drown out any outside noises, the dogs, and us in the morning while we’re getting ready.

Be consistent – it’s important to be consistent with your evening routine. I know it’s hard to be perfect 100% of the time, but sticking to a schedule really does help your little one to go to bed easier without fighting.

When he was a lot younger we followed a simple routine to help sleep train him. It saved our sanity so much! So, what do you incorporate in your evening routine for a 21 month old? Leave a comment below!