Operation Autonomous Morning Routine

You know how you work on something and then you get lax and suddenly, weeks or months later you realize you've totally lapsed back into your old ways?   This thought occurred to me this morning.   We had been working on having the children get themselves dressed in the mornings.   We had expected them to select their own clothes and put their pajamas in the laundry bin.   We had expected them to get themselves ready for school and they were doing it fairly well until summer started and we forgot everything.  

I realized this morning due to a conversation I had with my neighbor, that we were spending our mornings selecting clothes for the children and helping them (or arguing with them) through each step of their morning routine.   They are old enough to dress themselves completely and make appropriate selections on clothes and outerwear.    Even if they make poor choices, they will learn a valuable lesson about temperature and warm clothes and that's also a good thing. 

This morning I told them we were doing something new and I was excited, because I knew they were going to be great at it.  I explained my expectations and they were eager to go back upstairs and get their own clothes.    I helped them understand the new process and tried not to laugh at the strange outfit my daughter selected.  I was pleasantly surprised when we got to the car without a single argument—on time.

I told them that was our expectation in the future and if they weren't dressed by departure time (we'll give them reminders) then they will go to school in whatever they have on (or not on) and we'll send in their clothes with a note to their teacher.   

I'm thinking we're going to have a day or two where they will fail and have a lesson as a result.    My husband agreed it was a good plan.   I'll have to let you know how it goes.

The Big Boy Update:  Tonight my son helped me make the favor bags for his birthday party on Sunday.   He wasn't sure what it was all about until I explained.   He then got interested, helping me select which items would go in the bags in preparation.   That involved counting a lot of things to twenty—which he's getting pretty good at.   Then we got the little bags and went down the line, putting one of each item into each bag.    Well, aside from the candy.   My son liked putting candy into the bags.   He told me, "I'm a stuff giver.   I'm giving a lot of stuff to my friends."

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My husband was playing some game with my children tonight while I did some work.  I heard them all laughing and when I came up I saw cushions and pillows all over the floor.   I joined in the game and we all laughed together.   One of the things that made my daughter laugh was putting a large sticker that came off the sofa chair onto her stomach.  It was so big it covered most of her belly.   She would pull up her shirt, put the sticker on, laugh and run away.    That sticker had enough sticky stuff on it to last a good twenty sticks before it ran out of tackiness.  

Fitness Update:   My neighbor needed to go extra early to the gym today because of an early meeting she had.   We needed to leave at five o'clock which meant I needed to get up at four-forty-five.    That nerve medication I'm taking (that's helping) is more helpful if I've taken it more recently than just before bedtime the night before, so that means setting my alarm for 3:45 to take it.   With all the getting up early and setting an alarm for earlier still, it feels like the morning starts almost before the night is over.