The Unintentional Routine

Do you ever have a routine you get into that you didn't exactly plan, but it kind of happened? Maybe it is a bedtime routine with your kids where one day you started reading books to get them calmed down at bedtime and the next day you did it because it worked and the next day you did it again until it became a routine. Or maybe you got into a routine that you didn't even realize until someone points it out to you. One day you came home from shopping and had a drink of milk. Then the next time you came home from shopping you did the same thing, and so on. Maybe you kept doing it without thinking and then your spouse pointed it out to you and you realized, "Oh yeah, I do that every time, don't I?"
Tonight after getting the older kids to bed I was tired. Jr. Jr. was still awake, playing in the living room and Jeremy was working on the computer. I went into the living room with a pillow and blanket and blanket for Jr. Jr. My intention was to lie down on "the green thing," this cushiony foldup thing we have (I don't know what it's really called so we call it "the green thing") and just rest, maybe even fall asleep. As soon as I got comfortable, Jr. Jr. came up to me. You have to understand that he is learning to talk. He doesn't have a huge vocabulary, but has some words he can say clearly. Well, he came up to me since as I was lying down and said, "Doctor Who?"
Apparently we had conditioned him to this routine since lately Jeremy and I have been watching a lot of Doctor Who after the older kids go to bed. We don't want them watching it (too scary for my kids), but Jr. Jr. is young enough still that we don't mind if he's awake when we start to watch it. Often I will lie down with him while we're watching it to get him settled down. He has even fallen asleep a few times while it's been on. We don't do this every night, but it is often.
Well, tonight I found out that it has become a routine for Jr. Jr. and he's come to expect it. After the older kids are in bed and Mommy and Daddy are up with me, it's time for Doctor Who.

Waiting for Doctor Who (and having to wait even longer, because after this picture was taken, Mommy got up to write a blog post about this unintentional routine)

Ha Ha Ha. What are some of the unintentional routines you've discovered in your family?