We typically are up by 7-7:30 and this gives us enough time to eat breakfast and get upstairs by 8 to get dressed. After I get the kids lined up with their outfits, I take advantage of a little extra time and complete getting ready. Audrey brushes her hair and teeth, and Ayden wiggles his way in the bathroom to brush teeth too. The kids even have a few minutes to play a random game that they have created and then it is time to go downstairs and head out the door. This is where the problem is. My kids know that to get ready they need to put on shoes and coats. Simple as that right? We have our shoes either in the shoe organizer or they left them in the garage and they both know this and where to look. But something happens when they come down the stairs and I say lets get ready to go. It is like a switch goes off and they forget everything that we have ever done to get ready to get out the door. Audrey gets distracted by a craft and Ayden is talking about how hungry he is. I have to bark orders to get the kids to even put on shoes. We get out the door and I open the garage door and it is like they forget they have to go to the car. I mean how else are we getting to the physical therapist's office, by plane or boat? The kids normally scatter down the driveway or get distracted by the toys in the garage. I have to holler at least two times to get the kids to focus and get into the car. I am sure my neighbors have heard me barking at my kids many mornings and by this point I know I am not winning a Mother of the Year award by telling them to get in the car. So I finally get them in the container and I think they know what to do at this point, but surprise, surprise they are distracted by the snack stash or a book they left in the car. At this point I am ready to blow because we are late because the five minutes I budgeted for getting shoes on has turned into at least ten. The kids begin the attempt to buckle their car seats, but once again Ayden thinks he is grown and struggles. I can only give him a few minutes to try it on his own when I have to get out of the car and buckle his bottom portion of the car seat. I am annoyed I have to get out of the car again and he is hysterically crying because he can do it, but obviously not fast enough for my "we're late" attitude. And then I began driving to the physical therapists office and I am exhausted. Exhausted from barking at my kids to get it together, and emotionally exhausted because I now have two sad children that feel like I have yelled at them for the past ten minutes (which I have). We woke up not even two hours before happy and enjoying our morning, and then I ruined it in a matter of ten minutes.
So back to this balloon. I seem to be the balloon every time we get ready to go somewhere. I am actually embarrassed as I type this that I am the balloon, but it is the truth. I am sure there are other parents who struggle with this same situation but I guess I really need to remember how little my kids are. It can only get better right?
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