We're Late, we're late. . .

We need a better morning routine. I am not a morning person and because of that I think my children aren’t quite morning people either. Now, this doesn’t mean that they don’t get up early; it just means that we like to ease our way into the day.

When the Ladies wake up, they come down stairs, we have some milk, and we cuddle on the couch. I will admit the TV goes on and that there is no real sense of urgency to getting up and getting out.

This has started to cause a problem, especially on the days that the Lady has school and that I have to work. I just like to take a few extra minutes under the covers instead of jumping in the shower or starting the morning rush. The Little Lady will cuddle up right next to me with her little nonnies, I mean really who wants to give that time up? But then I look at the clock and I curse myself, because now we only have 35 minutes for both my husband and I to shower, to feed the girls and to get the Lady dressed. This causes more problems than most since she has a tendency to spend most of her day “nudie,” and drags her feet on all things clothing related.

We have tried laying out clothes the night before, but that doesn’t guarantee that will be the outfit that she actually wears, so I never know if it will take us an extra 10 minutes to get out of the house because the pink pants that were fine the night before have suddenly become unacceptable in the cold harsh reality of daylight. We have also tried to make getting dressed a contest. But recently when I tried this approach she just told me that I was already almost dressed and she didn’t want to be faster than anyone. Can you say backfire?

I have tried letting the Lady choose from two options, I was told this was a good way to let kids feel like they are in control, often this just leads to her flat out rejecting both outfits and leads to a bit more yelling and frustration on my part then I’d like to admit.

So this year my only New Year’s resolution was to make it to the Lady’s school on time. This means getting her into the classroom, hands washed (as required) and signed in. We did great on Tuesday, okay on Wednesday (even with having to bring the Little Lady, who also insisted on washing her hands) but by Thursday our first week spiraled into disaster. Not only were we ten minutes late, but now the State requires that parents mark down the time that we arrive, so staring back at me in a cold, graphite-grey pencil mark was proof of our tardiness. Oh, 9:10 why do you mock me so?

Now, I have to admit, we are certainly not the last people walking into the school and I have seen many people driving in when I am driving out, but I have very clear memories of waiting around for my mother to pick me up from things when I was little and I don’t want my kids to feel like we are always running late or that I am not going to get them somewhere on time.

So how do I change this? I know I am going to have to bite the bullet and actually wake up earlier than my children. This is a foreign concept to me. The Ladies are pretty good sleepers and a 7:30 wake up time is by no means shabby, but am I supposed to get myself up at 7 just so I can be ready to tackle the day before they get up? The answer seems fairly obvious. But really one of the benefits of having kids is that I don’t need an alarm clock. I have the same clock radio by my bed that I used in college, but I haven’t actually had to use the radio/alarm part of it in over three years. I am pretty sure that you can’t even get a radio station on that thing and really who wants to wake up to some harsh alarm buzz? Now, in order to get my act together, I am going to have to set that thing for 7 or maybe 7:05 or 7:10 and hope that because I take the time to get myself ready first that we can be in the car on our way to school by ten to 9, outfits approved, jackets zipped, totally on time.

I am not sure what I am going to do when these kids have to be on a bus before 8am or in a classroom at 7:40 in the morning, but I think I have a little bit of time before we get there. Perhaps there is no need to rush things? I mean it is really comfy under the covers.