Schedule vs. Routine

Max has a definite routine.  He has a way he wants things done and has a very hard time deviating from the routine. 

• Max always has to have Gerald and his two blankets to drink anything.  He holds onto them when drinking from his sippy cup.  He will look all over the house before he calms down to drink anything. 
• He eats popcorn out of a specific bowl in the kitchen.
• He likes to fall asleep on the floor and then we carry him to bed.
• He needs Will to be with him when he falls asleep.  Even if he is just in the room he is okay but Will must be visible.
• He puts himself down for a nap, not at the same time, but the same way.  He must have his blankets and Gerald and a cup of chocolate milk.  
• The way he plays with his cars is a routine.  He lines them up a specific way, and remembers where certain cars go.  If you take a car out of the line up, he will find it and put it back in the same place.
• When he does say words it is because he has made it a routine.  For example right now we are working on hello and goodbye.  He routinely says hello and goodbye to people, animals, and even things (like the pool) but he doesn't make great eye contact.  He just knows this is what we do when we leave or when a person walks into the room.  Hearing him say "hi dawg" and "bye bye pool" is pretty cute.
• When Max asks for cheese, he always wants a piece of bread.  He will rarely eat one without the other.  

Our family schedule changes constantly.  He does have a bedtime routine and we do things the same each day, but as long as his "routine" isn't off he does okay.  We are traveling right now to California.  He does well with traveling as long as he has his daily routines.  He doesn't even mind sleeping in a hotel or in a new place.

Routine is very different than a schedule.