In an ideal world, here's what would happen...the children would:
- leap out bed feeling all refreshed after a great night's sleep
- change out of pyjamas into school uniform, including shoes and socks
- eat a nice wholesome breakfast at the dining table
- brush teeth and hair
- pack lunch box into school bag
- pile into the car ready to be dropped off in the school drop off zone.
Time for a reality check.
This morning, Eme was out of bed bright and early (it was still dark outside). She climbed into my bed while I was in the shower and promptly went back into a deep sleep. Waking her was like trying to wake the dead. Seth was no better. He was sound asleep. I flicked the bedroom light on and yanked back the blankets. He still didn't move. I threatened to break up his Lego...that got him moving! lol.
Time to get dressed. Thankfully Andrew had gotten the kids clothes ready the night before, so all they had to do was put them on. Easy enough...you would think. Seth managed to get dressed, minus one shoe...and this is how he stayed for over half an hour. Why? Because he couldn't find the other one. Talk about having a man's look. lol. It was underneath his jacket! One crisis over...onto the next.
Breakfast. Seth dutifully puts on some toast while he's looking for the other shoe. Eme decides to make herself porridge. First you put in the porridge seeds (she tells me), then you put in the milk....way, way, way too much milk! Those porridge seeds are swimming! Oh well, I'm going to make her eat it anyway...probably better off with a straw rather than a spoon.
Making lunches. I got lucky today. Both kids wanted cheese sandwiches...easy. Both kids wanted carrot sticks...again easy. Both kids wanted their apples cut up into bit sized pieces because it takes too long to eat an apple the traditional way (what the?). Its cutting into their play time apparently. OK, done. Where's the lunch boxes? What, what do you mean you don't know? Did you bring them home? What do you mean you can't remember? Bugger this, I'll just find some more containers. Yep, you guessed it...plenty of lids and plenty of containers, but not one of them fitting together. I may or may not have thrown a stainless steel bowl across the kitchen floor.
Meanwhile...I am still in my towel after my shower. I need to get myself ready too, and let me tell you, it takes a bit of work to look this average each day. I couldn't find my black skirt or the grey scarf I wanted to wear, so settled for whatever was on top of the washing basket. Done. Back to the kids.
The kids fill up their water bottles and put them in their back packs, and we head out to the car. It is POURING!! Ok, let's get on our raincoats so we don't get wet going from the car to the classroom...makes complete sense in my mind. Nope. Eme decides she doesn't want to wear her raincoat and has a mini meltdown over a Dora umbrella. She doesn't win that battle.
