The IncredibLees



The Misadventures of a family of superheroes forced
to hide their secret super identities starring
"Mao Tse" Hannah (6-1/2),
Chris (8), John (also 8), Liz & Jeff

     
                       

Monday, August 29, 2005

Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!

Well, we had our first practice run this morning for getting ready for school. Last night, putting the boys to bed, I told them that they were starting school in one week, so this would be our practice week. I told them they had better go to sleep right away, because I was going to wake them up early in the morning to get ready. They have an alarm clock in their room, so naturally they wanted it set so they could get up by themselves, then come wake me up. The conversation:

What time do we need to get up?
I'm going to wake you up at 7:00. Maybe 6:30.
What if we wake up at five o'clock?
That's too early (little did I know.)
What if we wake up at one o'clock?
I'll set your alarm for six-thirty.

The boys are adamant that they are going to wake up before me, then come wake me up. I don't know where they got this idea, as I am usually on my third cup of coffee by the time they feel their way down the stairs. Chris usually wakes up ready to catch a tiger (and sometimes dressed for it, as well.) John always needs more time to clear the cobwebs out of his head and flatten down the hair that's sticking straight out on the left side of his head.

My alarm didn't go off this morning, but Jeff caught sight of the clock at 6:38 this morning and let me know (he was visibly shocked last night when I told him of my plans to practice getting ready for school and asked him to set the alarm for six-thirty.) I hopped out of bed (this is my story -- I hopped -- practically sprang!) I went directly to the boys' room (do not pass coffee machine, do not collect 200 mg of caffeine) to see that their own alarm clock had not phased them in the least. Without turning off their alarm, I began trying to wake them (admittedly, not something I have done more than a handful of times.) Let me tell you, this was no easy feat, with thoughts of Shaken Baby Syndrome floating around in the back of my mind. I managed to get a breakfast order out of them, and told them I expected them at the breakfast table in five minutes. John came down with me immediately.

At this point, some of you may be thinking it would be more efficient for me to decide on breakfast myself and slap it on the table rather than play short order cook. Trust me when I tell you it takes much less time to prepare two breakfasts to order than to try and convince a child (let alone two!) to eat something he doesn't have a taste for. Once I had breakfast on the table I had to go upstairs and pull the old "whisk the covers off the sleeping child" on Chris.

They were at the table eating breakfast by 7:00, not too bad. Chris wanted to be graded on his breakfast eating performance, so I gave him a B+. He didn't eat a lot, but enough, and he didn't get out of his chair once. They were dressed in their "handsome clothes" and socks by around 7:30. Again, not too bad. I don't know what time the bus will be picking them up, but right now I am estimating 7:40. We just need to add brushing teeth, putting on shoes, and fixing bed head. Maybe I'm over-confident, but I think we're going to have this nailed by Wednesday. I also think it's going to be pretty easy to get the boys to sleep earlier this evening, considering I woke them up a good two hours earlier than they're used to. Bonus!

At the end of today's time trial (can't you just see me crouching next to the breakfast table, pony-tailed hair in baseball cap, stopwatch in hand?) we talked about riding the bus. Chris talked a lot about making friends and sitting with friends. I talked them into finding seats in the front of the bus, close to the driver (because the big kids always head straight for the back.) Say, why don't school busses have seat belts, anyway?

So. That's this morning's excitement. Stay tuned for tomorrow's report. John has pole position, but I don't know what's going to happen once Hannah joins the pit crew.

3 comments:

  • At 11:22 AM, August 29, 2005, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I wonder if the boys will want to take NAPS today! I'm tired just reading about all you went through . . . maybe I'll take a nap!

     
  • At 2:51 PM, August 29, 2005, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Man, I am so glad I am out of school and have a job where I can go to work whenever I want.

    Although this morning I woke up at 5am.

     
  • At 5:47 PM, August 29, 2005, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Lizz - You're such a great mom to do a practice week before school! I never thought about that!

     

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