Mornings and Chaos

Why do the mornings lend themselves to so much chaos? I don't care if everyone takes a shower at night (this really only works for Belle because the boys sweat so much while they sleep, they smell), if everyone picks out what they are wearing the night before or if I make lunches before I go to bed, my house is still a tornado of kids yelling, rushing and usually crying. Let's use today as an example. Nico had to go to school early to type a paper since our printer isn't working. Leo had to go to work early (and complained about having to miss basketball this morning. His argument would have been stronger if he hadn't just come from playing basketball) so he was going to take him. I told him Nico had to be there by 7:30 but true to Leo, he heard 7:45. They sound alike, right? Anyway, Nico and Gia got up at 6:30. He ate, I fed Gia, he had to do his treatment and vest and Gia cried to be held. At 7:05, Leo was still not up. After arguing about the time Nico had to be at school, he got up and got ready. I got the other two up (Isabella could probably sleep later but she is sooo slow in the morning). At 7:20, Nico was yelling that he was going to be late, I have no idea what Leo was doing, the twins came down and asked if they could have bacon, eggs and maybe pancakes and Gia was still crying in my arms. I got Nico and Leo out of the house, told the twins to put some PopTarts in the toaster (if they are Strawberry, it counts as a fruit, right?) and tried to find something that would make Gia stop crying so I could make lunches. Making them the night before doesn't work because, "the jelly and peanut butter get all smushy and taste disgusting." I wanted Belle to help me with Gia (who never found anything that was interesting enough to stop crying) but she needed to brush her teeth and hair while Tommy did his treatment and vest. I proceeded to make the lunches with one hand.

Belle finally came down and I kid you not...she looked like she brushed her hair with a balloon there was so much static. I informed her that I needed to do her hair which caused her to cry that "You never let me do my hair by myself and no one cares what it looks like and you are the only mom that does her kid's hair." I put Gia down to scream and told Belle that "boys don't like girls that have hair that looks like cotton candy with a bird's nest growing underneath" and I am aware that it isn't great parenting to pull the "boys don't like" card to a 9 year old but it made her quiet really fast (if you read my post "Love in the 3rd grade, you know why) and she stood still while I put it up in a ponytail. I would love to know why kids hate brushing their teeth so much because that was the topic of the next argument. After asking nicely a few times, I ended up yelling at them that for the rest of their lives they are going to have to brush their teeth unless they wanted to lose them all and to hurry because they were going to miss the bus. They came down the stairs and there was the usual moaning about having to wear their winter coats and hats when Johnny gets to wear shorts and Susie doesn't have to wear a hat.

Then, and this is when I know you will agree that I might really be the Queen of Chaos, I tell Tommy that he can type his Litter Critter paper when he gets home and we can send it to his teacher to print at school and he decided he wanted to do that right then. I explained that he had ten minutes before the bus came and he said, "I'll hurry. I want to turn it in early." I explained that he still had to make the legs and feet and type up the paper and it isn't due until tomorrow and he started crying that he was the only one that hadn't turned it in (I don't believe that for a second). I pointed out calmly that if he wanted to turn it in early, he could have worked on it this past weekend or even last night but instead he played with friends and played video games. This caused him to go through the house like Taz from the Looney Tunes trying to find straws and then attach them to the can. All the while yelling, "Where is the tape? Where are the scissors? I need more straws! Why won't this tape hold these dumb straws? Why do birds even have to have legs?" When he made a move for the computer to type and with five minutes before the bus, I stepped in front of him and said, "You are turning this in tomorrow because you don't have time to do it well right now. Because of the mess you made, you are grounded from playing today and no video games." Did I say this calmly or even nicely? No, I did not. Am I proud of the fact that he left for school crying and without kissing me good-bye? No, I am not. I will stew about this all day and think about all the things I could have done differently to have a happier outcome (especially while I am cleaning up the tornado everyone left). Then tonight, everyone will come home forgetting all of the events of the morning as the chaos of the evening takes over only for me to wake up tomorrow for it to start all over again.


Edited to add that Tommy came home and the first thing he asked was, "Can Jake come over and play?" Scares me how well I know him.