Morning Madness

I am a morning person.  I am one of those people who gets up relatively early and is actually perky. I get the most accomplished in the morning and like to get up and get going.

Or at least I did until I had kids.

I don't think my kids are morning people. Yes, they generally wake up on their own these days. They get themselves dressed and brush their own teeth. They make their own breakfast. Sounds pretty good, right? Wrong!

Wesley only wants to wear one of two shirts to school, which is a problem when there are five school days a week. That means three days I have to tell him to chose something else, or else I pick out his clothes and he complains the entire time.

Breakfast should be a no-brainer since they make their own. I get their plates out of the cupboard - identical plates to minimize the fighting. I also put their vitamins on the plates, making sure that they each have the same colors, again to minimize fighting. They each get one piece of breakfast in the morning and we buy the pre-cooked stuff, so the pieces look pretty much the same. They pick pop-tarts, or pancakes, or cereal, or a peanut butter sandwich, or a breakfast cookie to finish off their breakfast.

Let me tell you, it's amazing how much conflict can arise over breakfast despite my best efforts.

They fight over who gets to get the bacon out of the refrigerator. They fight over who gets to use the microwave first. They fight over who gets which identical plate with the same color vitamins. They fight over the dishwasher being opened and who left their dishes on the table. It's exhausting.

And heaven forbid it's gym day and Wesley has to wear tennis shoes that tie instead of the slip on shoes he prefers! You would think this child had no idea how to tie shoes.

So this morning I did what any mom clinging to sanity would do. I told them to work it out, completely ignored it all and got on the computer to type out my frustration. Ryan ended up eating in his room, but the fighting stopped and I didn't have to yell once.

Now we just need to find something for Ryan's share time today.....