mommy duty

Every morning I have mommy duty with my three year old. I am thankful at this point that I only have to get one child ready in the morning and not both. But these morning, are not easy. If you have a three year old, you know that they have developed their independent skills by now and dont need ANY help with ANY thing! I try to be very organized with her; I lay out clothes for the week on Sunday night. I have socks, underwear, and shoes ready too. I have everything ready so when she wakes up, we just pick which outfit to wear and off we go. Well, that is the intention anyway. I wake up my little girl about 40 minutes before we have to leave. She only needs to do a few things to get ready: get dressed, brush her hair and teeth, put her shoes on and eat breakfast. So forty minutes should be plenty of time... you would think. But it takes about 30-35 minutes for her to actually wake up and get out of bed. I guess I shouldnt judge. I dont want to get out of bed at 5am. And I roll around a bit each morning, slapping the snooze button on my alarm clock, a few more times than I should. But I know that about myself and compensate by setting the alarm clock earlier than I need. I have even tried to compensate for my little girl. I go into her room and turn the light on about 15 minutes before I really need her to get up. But it seems to backfire. Every day! And so the cycle continues... everyday! I wake her up with my sweet mommy voice. "Good morning sweetheart. It is time to get up, sunshine. Wake up sweetpea!" Then I go pack her lunch and get my bag ready for the day. Then about 15 minutes later, I go in and have a little more stern a voice, "honey, it's time. get up. we are going to be late." Then, about 10 minutes before we actually have to leave to make it to school and work on time, I run in, pull the covers off her, and start the "not so nice" mommy voice. "Get up! Now! We are going to be late! Your teacher will be so disappointed if you are late, again! Do you want to go to school in your pajamas? Mommy is leaving in five minutes!" But nothing works. I lose my patience more with her in the mornings than any other time of the day. And a confession... there are days when her hair and teeth don't get brushed. Actually, more often than not, that is the case. I am a horrible mother. What a job! It is dinner time now, so off I go. Don't ever forget you are a hero, even when you don't feel like it. Even when your kids' teeth don't get brushed. Even if your kids go to school in their pjs. You are a hero, in an invisible cape.