Here’s a break down of our school morning routine, mainly for myself to reference years down the road, when I can fully reflect, and wonder, how did I do that? ha
I have to get up at 5:10, to get myself ready for the day, before the chaos starts. It takes me about 30 minutes to do what I need to do, then I go to the kitchen, and if I have extra time, I might make the kids oatmeal, because they all LOVE it so much. If I don’t have extra time, then I go downstairs, attempting to wake them one by one, starting with the girls.
Allie is pretty good about only mentioning one time that it is morning, and time to rise and shine.
The other 3, not so much..
I talk to Autumn, and say, hey hey hey, it’s morning time, time to rise and shine. She typically rolls over, moans, and pulls the covers over her head, to block me out. I have had an easier time with her this week, because she likes to have the extra time to play on her computer, while everyone else is still getting ready for the day.
Then, I go into the boys room, and start with Austin, since he’s on the bottom bunk. He’s pretty good about waking up right away, but sometimes, he too, will pull the covers over his head and roll over. But, still, easier to wake than Autumn had been.
Next, I climb into Adam’s bed on the top bunk, gently talk to him, patting him gently, telling him it’s time to rise and shine too. And, let’s go get some breakfast, to see if that motivates. 🙂 I pull his special little blanket off of him, put it to the side, and he is by far, the most difficult one to wake up. I have to try and come back after 5 minutes, and then be a little more “in his face” with the talking.. lol I even give him kisses and finally THAT gets him up. He does NOT like my kisses first thing in the morning.
We all make our way upstairs, and start the breakfast process.
Most of them want cereal, some want the frozen waffles, some want yogurt.. it all just depends on their moods. I’m willing to make them whatever, within reason. I’m always aware of the time and how much it will take to do the requested things, which determines if they will have their requested items or not.
After they finish their breakfast, it’s a challenge to get Austin out from under his blanket he wrapped himself in, to go downstairs and brush his teeth, put on his socks and shoes, etc. Autumn is on her computer, so she claims she’s ready, and then Allie & Adam are very independent and do what they need to do without me asking.
We finish up our little things to get ready for the day, and head out all together to seize the day.
Now.. sometimes, ahem. I mean most times, there is so much drama in between all of these things, that it’s ridiculous.
Austin will scream or whine about someone looking at him, Autumn will complain b/c Austin chews with his mouth open, Adam will whine and say people are talking to him, and Allie just does her thing. But, we all end up making it on time, so that’s a win, right?
Today, Austin had to go to “morning reading” in the school library. His teacher requested that I walk him in. So, we parked, I walked him in, and he walked into the library, then right back out, and hid in the boys bathroom. When he came out, both Ms. Thompson & Ms. Tubbs were standing in the hallway, waiting on him. I finally had to pick him up and physically carry him into the library, where he FINALLY read a book and tested on it. He’s got to be very uncomfortable in there or something, because he was adamant about NOT going in there. I will do this same routine tomorrow, and hopefully that will make him realize it’s not so bad.
Also, his teacher mentioned that she’s been seeing great improvement with his communication, behavior and participation since we altered his behavior plan, and I removed video games from his life temporarily. 🙂 YES!
Just keep on swimming.. right?
All in a Day 