Before 7:14 a.m: Out The Door

My alarm clock starts ringing at 5:00 a.m. every school morning, but I don’t actually realize it’s been ringing until the eighth time I press snooze, at approximately a quarter after six.  This is not a problem, because trust me, NO ONE else in the house hears my alarm going off 8 times at this point in the morning.  I cling to my pillow, grip the sheet and down comforter and consider throwing a tantrum about having to get up so much earlier than the sun, but that really won’t solve anything, so I don’t.

We’re in business.  I grab a sweatshirt, pull it over my head, find some wool socks and whip on the lights in each kidlet bedroom.  I sing a made up song entitled “Wakey Wakey Snakey Snakey” in my operatic voice.  They love this!  They know I’ll keep on singing until I can tell they are awake and actually on their way out of bed.. so they sit up pretty quickly and slide their feet out of their covers.  I go downstairs to the kitchen to pack lunches and make breakfast. They make approximately six trips down to the basement and back to the second floor, gathering underwear, shirts, pants and whatever else they need to get dressed.  This process would be much easier for them if they’d actually just fold their laundry and put it away, but they don’t see eye to eye on that matter and don’t seem to mind running down to the basement multiple times each morning.

This morning I had promised them pancakes, but it turned out I’d used all the eggs, so I couldn’t make pancakes or any other thing with eggs, which pretty much includes my breakfast repertoire except for granola and cold cereal, which everyone is a little tired of this week since I’ve had trouble getting out of bed early enough to cook anything better all week.  To soften the blow, I make fruit smoothies, which makes them happy.  Everything is lined up.  Homework folders are signed and in backpacks.  Morning snack is doled out and stuck in the pockets of their bags.

We eat.  They discuss how if someone paid me 1 cent for every day I was potty training Mr. TOF, by the end of the year I’d have $3.65!  Wow!  Ahem.

It was a relatively calm morning, not too much squabbling.  No tantrums, everybody was actually out of bed on time because they thought they were getting pancakes.  But it’s always those last seven minutes of bundling up before leaving, the frenzy that sends me over the edge sometimes and really makes me want to burrow down and take a nap.  Someone forgot something for their backpack.  Someone forgot to brush their teeth.  Someone forgot to put on socks.  Someone can’t find their snowpants.  Someone else can find their mittens.  Everyone grouches a bit.  The cat grumps at the door, howling to get out because he doesn’t want to use his litter box.  Nothing cheers the animal up until finally everyone has left and he realizes he really truly isn’t getting outside and he stalks off to the basement to use the litter box. Then the cat does take a nap.

It is possible that someday I might actually miss this everyday morning frenzy.  It’s possible that someday I might actually naturally wake up at 5;30 a.m. without an alarm clock and feel bored.  These days I’m just grateful when everyone actually manages to get on the bus at 7:16 a.m, when the darkness is just starting to fade.