It's About Progress, Not Perfection

I was getting kind of panicky about summer, what with all the unstructured time and kids all over the place all the time.  

One thing I won't miss, though?   School day mornings.  

Last year I posted about mornings, right about this time of year, in fact.   I'm happy to report that we have implemented a system that heads off the laundry disasters, lunch making and last minute homework-doing.   

But it doesn't make one bit of difference, it seems.   The 55 minutes leading up to the arrival of Greta's bus are always chaotic:

7:14am - Shuffle into the kitchen with one eye open, and prepare coffee.  Start coffee maker.

7:16am - Kids bound in, fully awake since 6am.  Prepare frozen waffles.

7:18am - Sneak off to check email for one minute.  Hear Greta say "Mom, you should come see this!"

7:20am - Forgot glass coffee urn, coffee all over the counter and floor.   Clean up mess, and prepare coffee again.   Curse.

7:24am - Serve waffles.  Greta cries because she didn't want her waffles cut into pieces.  Finn cries because he thinks Sissy got more than him.

7:30am - Sneak off to check email again.   Hear "Um, Mom?   There's still a problem here."

7:31am - Remembered glass coffee urn, but forgot filter.   Coffee grounds all over the counter and the floor.  Clean up mess.   Curse.

7:32am - Notice what Greta is wearing - perfect for a cold day in February, but not so much for a day that is 90 degrees and humid.    Tell her to change.   More tears, because she was trying to wear the same thing as her friend Caroline today.   Sneak a pair of shorts and T-Shirt into her backpack.

7:34am - Coffee is ready, no spills.   Milk has gone bad.  Drink coffee black.  Curse.

7:36am - Finn walks by wearing a Cinderella dress.   Greta panics because she needs ice cream money today.   Peer in wallet.   No cash, no change.    Scrounge through furniture and find the requisite 75 cents.

7:38am - Finn complains he is hungry.   Dog ate his waffles because he left the breakfast table.   Send both the dog and the kid to a time out.  

7:45am - Start mad search for Greta's sneakers (it is gym day), lecturing the whole time about putting things back where they belong.    Finally find sneakers in the car.

7:50am - Wonder why it is so quiet, remember kid is in his room in a time out.   Take advantage of silence to check computer again.

7:54am - Let Finn out of time-out.   Heart breaks a little as he sniffles down the stairs still wearing the Cinderella dress.   Maintain resolve despite cuteness and refuse to fix more waffles.   Give him fruit instead.

7:58am -  Greta insists on going outside to wait for the bus, despite the fact that it won't be here for at least ten minutes.     Sit outside to wait for bus wondering how kid could be an early riser and need to be compulsively early for everything and have any of own genetic makeup.

8:04am - Referee fight between kids.  Finn outside in Cinderella dress serenading Greta, who is dying of embarrassment.   

8:08am - Forgot sunscreen.   Dash inside to get it, hear bus coming up the street.  Run outside and slap sunscreen on Greta's face as bus pulls up to driveway.   Greta vows never to speak to Finn or me again.

8:08:06am - Wave and blow kisses to Greta on bus as she slinks lower in her seat and pretends not to know me.

8:08:12am - Go back inside and see Greta's homework folder on kitchen table.

Curse.