Morning Trials

 I hate mornings. It’s not that I don’t want to get up and greet the day; it’s just that I’d rather greet it a little later.

My boys went back to school this week. Thank the Good Lord. I wasn’t sure I would make it through any more “bonding” time. Boys make me tired. And irritated. And nauseous sometimes. (Ever smell teenage boy? Biological warfare if I can figure out how to bottle it.) Back to school means a nice break for mommy, after I get them out the door – preferable without a meltdown (usually mine). As I said, I hate mornings. The one thing I hate worse than mornings? Having a deadline in the morning. This particular deadline comes in the form of a school bus, or two. Things were okay on day one, first day excitement and all; but day two sucked. Royally.

This morning’s convo with aforementioned teen –

Me: Oh good you’re up. Did you already take a shower like I asked last night?

A: Uh…..no.

Me: Do you remember me asking you to do that when you woke up?

A: Uh….yeah.

Me: OK, so why didn’t you? (Minimal AM patience has now diminished to infinitesimal.)

A: Uh…...(He’s a real talker this one.)

At this point he stands up to start taking off his clothes…..in the living room.

Me: Forget it. Come here and let me smell you. (I know, right?) Did you put on deodorant?

A: Uh….yeah.

Me: Really? Today?

A: Uh…no.

Me: Go. Now. And don’t lie

.

Within the next half hour we had similar conversations about breakfast, wearing gym shoes, bringing gym shoes to school and wearing sandals, bringing socks, finding socks, finding his gym shoes….And then the bus company called to say the bus was out front waiting for him.

Patience gone, I’m a raving lunatic and he’s sullen (not so new – either one). I did, however, have the presence of mind to reopen the front door and yell, “I love you, Have fun!” as he ran for the bus.

All of this made me rethink our morning routine. And then, since I was on a roll, our evening routine. Which led to these:

I’ve seen a number of these on a couple dozen blogs. Just a printed chart in picture frame. I used Velcro to attach a dry erase marker to each frame. Each day that they complete both the Morning and Night routines without reminders, they earn a marble in their jar. When someone collects 30 marble, he gets to go to a movie with me. ($1 show, but if you don’t tell, I won’t – a movie’s a movie.) G is much more excited than A, but he usually is. I’m planning on this working. I need this to work. I’ll let you know.

And for those you following along, I'm still unemployed, but at this stage of the game I think we're calling me a stay-at-home-mom. I prefer hausfrau.

Suz