Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Morning Madness

There has got to be a better way to do mornings. I put the girls on the bus at 10 to 9 and all I want to do is go back to bed- I am exhausted. Today, like most mornings, the Dad is gone before anybody is up. GB has always had cuddle time before starting her day, as she is a slow starter. Hope has no interest in cuddling me, but is not going to let GB get something without her getting it too. By 7:15 cuddles are over. GB is normally independent in dressing herself, and usually I check to make sure she takes her meds and brushes her teeth. Hope needs to be within three feet of me and in the same room. Hope uses the toilet, takes her meds, and brushes her teeth while I stand there and watch and try to keep GB on task. GB is very reluctant to leave me in the same room as Hope as she fears Hope will get something GB doesn't get. Up until this point this morning, Hope had two tantrums, one because GB used the toilet first, the other because GB used the toothpaste she wanted to use (not finished, just used).

When we are done in the bathroom, I walk Hope 20 ft to pick out her clothes. We bring the clothes back to my room so the three of us can get dressed. Hope managed to misplace her panties and she had another tantrum because "somebody" took them. GB found them where Hope had dropped them. Hope finished  dressing and we all went downstairs, including Ellie. It was 8 am.

Weekday breakfasts have limited choices- cereal or something. On Wednesdays, the something is French Toast sticks. Hope chose cereal and ate three bowls. GB went with the French toast sticks. GB feed Ellie while I nuked the French toast sticks and got both girls juice. After her third bowl of cereal, Hope decided she wanted French toast sticks too. It was already 25 minutes after eight and I told Hope there was no more time to fix french toast sticks and she could have a piece of fruit if she was hungry. Tantrum number 3. I told GB it was time to do her hair and to get her hair stuff. GB said we always do my hair in the family room. I don't want to do it in the kitchen. I told Hope we were moving to the family room and the tantrum turned into a rage. The rage required intervention and GB started crying because I was dealing with Hope, not doing her hair. At that point I laughed, because at the same time yesterday morning, GB was crying because she didn't want her hair done and I insisted on doing it before the bus came. I ended up going over GB's hair very quickly with a hair pick,  Hope had calmed to just sobs, and we made the bus with less than a minute to spare.

Hope is asleep by 7:15 most nights and seems to need a solid 12 hours. If I put her to bed any earlier, she won't see her Dad before she goes to sleep. Since Dad is the sunshine of her life, trying to put her to bed before she sees him is a guaranteed tantrum-to-rage all by itself. (I did try it once).

Time for another infusion of caffeine, so I can do food shopping before they get home.

5 comments:

Dia por Dia said...

We had crazy morning with Corazon and then when the other 3 came it was a nightmare for awhile. We don't do that anymore now that we have settled into a "groove" and if I am honest, mornings are the easiest part of our day (especially now that I homeschool them but for a long awhile we had 3 different dropoffs in the a.m.) Can you enlist the girls help in streamlining this such as BREAKFAST menu for the week? How about everything for next day put in wherever you will dress everyone (we use the family room for the 3 younger kids so each night their clothes, shoes, etc. are laid out there before as part of bedtime routine.)We got those "dorm bathroom" caddies for each kid and they keep ALL their toiletries in one which cut out lots of the "drama" about who did what, where, when, and with what and that also helped. Not sure this is helpful to you but I hear you!

Psycho Mom said...

I totally hear you!! By the time Akila is on the bus, I am wiped out. Takes me awhile to recover. Then the bus comes home. Ha. Your drama sounds just like what we have, but you have 2 now! Good for you!

Anonymous said...

I wish I could gift you some of my free time so you could take a totally guilt free nap for three hours! Maybe in another life right?

Mom 4 Kids said...

Man your Hope and my Miss are cute from the same mold! Right down to needing the 12 hours of sleep. Just this year is she better able to deal with 11 hours of sleep.

Love and hugs!!!

Anonymous said...

Even I can tell you that you are not alone (some comfort, right.) The reason for those meltdowns is *so* Mr P. And Mr L now, too. Pure sibling rivalry that logic has no hope against.

I agree with Dia -- can you pick out the night before and have it where it needs to be?

It can be hard to remember that the silly reasons are based on fear. Sometimes, for us, the french toast stick thing could be handled by promising some for an after-school snack.

Do you think GB is capable of keeping a tally in her head of which of them is "winning" for things like going to the family room vs staying in the kitchen for hair? If so, maybe (maybe) it would help to try to alternate who "wins" on such obvious requests of "I want it my way".

Unfortunately, I don't have any real answers. If you find any, send some our way.