When J.C. is home, he is in charge of mornings. He is a natural morning person, so it just makes sense that he is the morning captain of this ship. When he is home, our morning routine goes something like this:
6:30: Nina bounds out of bed and starts watching TV.
7:00: Addison gets up and yells for us to wipe her bottom which gets one or the other of us out of bed long enough to do that.
7:05: I'm watching the Today Show in bed. JC is getting dressed.
7:30: J.C. and Nina are dressed and ready to start the day. He has pried Elise out of bed, and he takes all three girls down for breakfast. He puts out cereal and juice for all of them and eats with them while checking his email. I am still watching the Today Show in bed.
8:00: J.C. yells at me to get out of bed, help Addie get dressed, help Elise find her shoes, and make lunches.
8:15: I am out of bed, helping Addie get dressed and Elise find her shoes. J.C. is making sure reading logs are signed, homework is in backpacks, and blankets are ready for preschool.
8:30: I am frantically making lunches, so everybody else can get out the door to walk to the bus stop at 8:35.
8:35: Everyone in the house is ready except for me. They all walk to the bus stop while I get dressed.
Now, imagine how well that morning works when he's not here. Uh yeah, not so well. This morning went like this:
6:30: Nina bounded out of bed and started watching TV.
7:00: Addison got up and yelled for me to wipe her bottom. I did that, and then she went downstairs to watch TV with Nina.
7:05: I was watching the Today Show in bed. Elise was still asleep.
7:30: no change in the status quo.
8:00: no change in the status quo.
8:10: I finally rolled out of bed, griped at Elise to get up, and yelled downstairs to Nina that she needed to make breakfast for herself and Addie.
8:30: I came downstairs to find Addie eating Go-gurt in the playroom (which is carpeted). Nice. Is there anything messier than a 3 year old eating Go-gurt? That's what I get for putting a 7 year old in charge of breakfast. I quickly made lunches, got Addie dressed, and helped Elise find her shoes.
8:38: I assumed we had missed the bus, so I told everybody to line up at the back door to go. While waiting on Elise to find her binder and grab breakfast for the road, Nina and Addie left the house, presumably to go to my car.
8:40: I walked out, heard Addie crying about five houses away. I looked up, saw Nina's backpack in the middle of the road, and she was racing toward Addie. From the other direction, a dad across the street was running toward her. I ran down there. Addie was fine. She had fallen and scraped her knees a little. I asked Nina what she was thinking going to the bus stop with Addie and no grown-up. She said, "I wasn't. She just started running." Note to self: The 7 year old should not be in charge of breakfast or safely walking to the bus stop.
8:45: Somehow, the bus was running later than we were, so the girls actually got on the bus. I'm sure their hair and teeth weren't brushed, but they appeared to have backpacks and lunchboxes in hand and shoes on their feet, so I called it a success.
As much as I complain about the perky morning people in my life, they are really quite useful. Maybe tomorrow will be better. Somehow though, I doubt it.
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