School Mornings

Why is it that mornings must be so difficult? My six year old is not a natural morning person. If she had her way she would stay up till midnight and sleep till 10. As it is we start our bedtime routine at 7pm at which time she takes melatonin to help her go to sleep. Even with all this, the mornings are a challenge for us. On the other end of the spectrum is my 8 month old who likes to wake up between 5 and 6 every morning. Now, don't get me wrong, I find being a single Mom does have advantages - no back seat driving (other than "cool, this is like a roller coaster" when we drive across high overpasses), no one wanting sex when I don't want it, naming my child whatever I want without argument ... but there are some mornings when a second set of parenting hands would be nice. For example, Thursday was Epiphany and so the kids had to wear their dress uniforms. Since reading the book "Olivia Saves the Circus" Nevi has decided that her dress school uniform is "BORING" - just like Olivia's. She was mostly dressed (after 30 minutes of coaxing) and it was down to the shoes and socks. My darling girl has forever had this thing with her feet. It may very well qualify as a Sensory Processing Disorder because you would think there were nails being poked into her feet for all the crying and screaming she starts to do because her shoes "don't feel right." THIS is when a spouse would be helpful because while the trauma with the shoes is happening I am also trying to make a lunch, take care of the 8 month old, and get us, and all our STUFF, out the door and into the car pronto Lopez, because, we are, of course, running LATE. *sigh* It takes everything in me not to lose my temper at this point - I breathe in and out - find my happy place for just a brief second - and try again to help her get her shoes on ... it doesn't work. She melts all the way down. I say (trying a new tactic) "If you don't go to school you will spend the whole day, in your room, with no t.v. shows or computer games." Seriously, as a kid, you are not sick, you just hate your uniform and the shoe thing is really bothering you, but would YOU opt to stay home under those circumstances??? Yeah, I didn't think she would either ... but she did ... the gauntlet was thrown and now I have a black eye. In that moment, if I could have tag teamed another parent to step in and try where I failed, without fear of recrimination or accusations of bad parenting, it would have been really really nice.

But the reality is ... there is no backup - it is Mommy or nothing.

Congrats to me on Post #2 ... I am going to go and research more about Sensory Processing Disorder because it would explain a lot about some of the things my six year old experiences and is (from my brief introductory research on the subject) "often confused with ADHD." Interesting ... I love the internet, don't you? Checking this out: www.spdfoundation.net