In The Groove

It is week 3 and I think we are finding a groove.  The senior (not quite AARP) members of the house are making progress while the kids are skeptical.  Stimson is still evaluating the groove.  He is a ‘stick to the original plan’ kind of a guy.  His plan is not the current plan and still involves mom more than our current reality. That means change for him is a significant ordeal, usually involving ongoing conversations and evening dessert to ease or numb his concerns.  Maybe we should have used the ‘patch’ instead of changing the plan cold turkey.  Merritt rolls with it as long as her needs (blankie, snacks, beating ‘Timmie’, bunny, and her purse) are in place. 

The perfect groove starts with compromising on sleep AND the coffee maker working….extra emphasis on the coffee maker. 4:45a comes earlier each day.  I often think back to the college days when homework started at 11p and ended at 1-2a.  Of course I was able to sleep in until 6a because who needed more than 4 hours of sleep at that age?  Fast forward to the current Adultezoic Era and usually less than 50% of the body is firing on all cylinders at 5a. Some twitching, running into walls, brushing with the wrong toothbrush could be involved. We usually don't know as those things happen in the unconscious state. Monday this past week was a rude awakening when the coffee maker decided it had enough and checked out. Our house wasn’t burning, but it may as well have been.  It was a 5-alarm emergency.  Katy’s face said it all.  When she cries wolf, I usually listen.  This was a huge wolf.  A quick trip to Costco (not at 5a) that day solved the problem.  Costco is great – they only have two options and their return policy is essentially “use it, abuse it, and bring it back no questions asked if you aren’t satisfied”.  Once the coffee has been inserted through the mouth or via IV, we are able to begin working or subject ourselves to some kind of activity (aka running) in the dark or the flywheel in the garage.

As for the kids…..any day the kids sleep past 6:30a is usually a good day.  This week, we had a few days where both kids were up before 6a.  Ummm, I think “I” need to go in to work early today.  “Honey, can you take the kids in this morning?  I will be home sometime after the kids are in bed.”  The goal is for Katy to leave the house between 6-7a.  The kids are usually up by 6:45a so we can leave for school at 7:15a.  

This week…..Thursday, Merritt woke up and the first thing she said was “I threw up just like Timmy did!!!” (reference to a period in the past where Stimson had thrown up in his bed) Oh no, sick kids are not part of the groove.  First thing that comes to mind was an email from Merritt’s school not too long ago that basically said “You are breaking some kind of law if you bring sick kids to school”.  Or maybe that was Maria Montessori’s mandate (the lady who came up with the great montessori educational philosophy) of a good learning experience. I'm not sure where that originated. “Merritt – how do you feel?  You feel fine?  OK, we are headed to school, but don’t tell anyone what happened last night”.  Phew, everything is still in the groove until noon when Merritt’s school calls to tell us she threw up.  Oops…. When I walked in to her school, I was surrounded by 15 kids yelling “Merritt PUKED! Merritt PUKED!”, “Merritt threw up all over while we were eating!”. I'm pretty sure most of the boys in her class (given about 2-3 more years of age) would have said something like "Merritt PUKED and it was AWESOME!!!  Her broccoli and carrots got great air time!" Either way, I imagine all parents got the news on the way home from their emotionally scarred kid. 

Not what we planned, but we did make it through another week.  Thanks to the great work of Martin Luther King, I was able to enjoy a company holiday at home by myself.  I made a table for Merritt’s bunny houses. 

Saturday was an important day to be outside with the kids.  A few mornings of 5:45a wake-ups, vomiting, etc….we would be wise to be outside.  Toxic germs and toxic attitudes are best shared with others in the outdoors where at least the birds are saying something nice.  We had success finding two geocaches and 100 pine cones for a school project.  We also got to ride our bikes.

On another note.....things we are thankful for this week....electricity (after two power outages), healthy kids, and mirrors.

12 WEEKS TO GO!