Tuesday, February 05, 2013

"Mommy, Moommy, Moooommmyy"

Ryan wakes me up everyday with a chorus of "Mommy"s from his crib. Yes, he is two and in a crib. For some reason he walked earlier than the other boys, but doesnt climb out of his crib yet (thankfully). The benefits of having him in the crib outweigh the lovely morning alarm every single day (at this point). As a public service, I want to remind all of you to be following the Honest Toddler on twitter. It is a little but of a glimpse into life with a toddler, if you have forgotten.

David, on the other hand, continues to be obsessed with DS. He will wake up an hour earlier than the whole house, make himself breakfast, get dressed, brush his teeth, GET HIS JACKET ON, then ask me (usually two minutes prior to the Ryan alarm clock) "can I play DS?" At that moment all I am thinking is "please dont wake up Ryan" so I sleepily agree.

Right on cue, Ryan will go off "mommy...mooommmmy....mommy.mommy.mommy.mommy.mommy..." I think you get the idea. It is cute, really, until I actually have to get up.

Then there is Andrew...so sweet looking, so tired. He will sleep in on school days and wake up early on the weekends. I have to bring him gummy vitamins to start the wake up process, apparently a little sugar helps start the day even if the 8 year old is STILL IN BED. Dont get me wrong, I may appear to be ashamed of the idea, I am actually SUPER proud since most days he actually gets out of bed a minute or two after I give him the SOMA.

Of course, there are days (or stages) where Andrew will not get up, those are hard days for everyone.  I try positive reinforcement (treats in his lunch, playing DS before school, or other tricks in the mommy book), usually on those days though I have to end up with the following statement "ok well you can go to school in your pajamas and hungry." That usually does the trick, especially if it is almost time for the bus to come. Sometimes before that point, I get all "no electronics for you after school..."which quickly turns into a week of no electronics, which makes him "cray cray" (remind you to tell you a story about the time David said that-so silly) and also doesnt usually resolve the situation. Anyway, it degenerates from there. If he makes it to the bus, I am grateful, but usually I have to drive him to school, me and him fuming, David, relatively oblivious in his post-DS stupor and Ryan sometimes making fun of Andrew by saying "boo hoo" and pretending to cry (which is hilarious for David and I, infuriating for Andrew).

This past Saturday was a lovely combination of all of these morning rituals. David and Andrew are attending a Saturday program from 9-11. They actually both agreed and wanted to do it and we were fortunate enough to get in (and budget for it before I quit work).  Ryan woke up super early, however David was already dressed and playing DS, and I was just about to make the coffee at 6:30AM, when Ryan, after already having his morning  "juice" which is kind of like his SOMA, but with a lot more water, asked for a "peepop" which his incredibly cute way of saying lollipop. I actually had to put my foot down on the pre-sunrise lollipop, leading to a delightful toddler tantrum at 6:30AM. I live a charmed life (OK I do, but at that moment, I wasnt feeling it).

David, jostled from his DS fog by his brother's tantrum (if it isnt one, it is the other), said "oh I forgot it was Saturday." 

Andrew got up shortly after that without prompting (because it was Saturday). He was on day 6 of his electronics vacation, only one more day to go (this "vacation" has to be harder on me than him). I get him some breakfast and tell him about his day (which is already written on the whiteboard in his room) and he flips out, so we add another day to the electronics vacation.

By this time, I have to shower and skadattle to a scheduled school board work session that starts at 8:30 (there is breakfast at this meeting, so I dont have to eat before I leave the house, but I should get there early). Chris wakes up when I tell him I am about to leave (to be fair, he is the first one up most days). I ran out the door around 8:10 never to be heard from again...

Not really, but that is how long that work session felt.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh momma. I am so feeling you! "If we're not bribin' we're not tryin'" is pretty much our house motto.

They really should create a patience pill for mommas to take on mornings like this.
:)

Jennifer said...

:) momma SOMA, it rhymes and everything.

Jen on the Edge said...

Oh yes, that is the glamorous life. :-)

I have always been a big fan of bribery in my house. In fact, I don't discriminate on ages and even use it on my husband.

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