a week ago, right before leaving with the kids in the morning for preschool, i was literally about to tear my hair out . [side note: okay. i was not literally about to tear my hair out. that would have hurt, and my hair is pretty thin to begin with, so i probably should keep whatever i've got. i only wrote that to make my point that people tend to use the word "literally" when it makes no sense. someone after a tennis match yesterday said to me, "my heart was literally beating out of my chest!" i just had to marvel at her apparent mad surgical skills that enabled her to tuck that sucker back inside her body in time to finish her second set.]
but i digress. back to the morning in question. we had cleared the kitchen from breakfast, gotten dressed, brushed our teeth, packed our snacks, and slipped on our shoes. and then, while i grabbed my keys, it started: the jostling for position by the back door; the "i was here first!" and "you went first yesterday!" that has begun to accompany each morning departure as of late. and what had begun as a beautiful spring day had, in five seconds flat, turned into the height of frustration for me as a mother, as i watched two preschoolers fight to the death over who got to open the dadgum door.
i won't go into great detail about how in handled it at that moment; suffice it to say i won't be winning any Mother of the Year awards. but i AM proud to say that upon further reflection, i came up with my very own approach of how to handle such battles. my very own idea that i might just try to patent. my crowning achievement.
now if i just had a name for it, my marketing plan could fall into place.
basically, the kids now alternate days. liam's days are the even dates on the calendar (easy for me to remember, since his birthday falls in august, an even month.) susanna's days are the odds (as her birthday is in may, an odd month.) when it's liam's day, he gets to be first. he gets to leave the house first, climb into the car first, descend the stairs at preschool first, wash his hands at dinnertime first, choose the first bedtime story ... this goes on all day long. all the while, susanna is quite compliant, because she knows her turn is coming less than 24 hours later. they know the deal, they follow along agreeably.
it's made my life infinitesimallly easier. and i'll be honest -- i was feeling quite smitten with myself, so proud of my accomplishment. but then i listened in from the other room as the kids explained the whole concept to the sitter on friday. "so today is my day to brush my teeth first," liam said. "you see, we go back and forth -- you know, liam, susanna, liam, susanna." but before he could finish, my feisty susanna interrupted. "no, liam! it's not like that! it goes susanna, liam, susanna, liam!"
i love them dearly. but goodness gracious, they can drive me up the wall sometimes. (not literally.)
4 comments:
You know sis, I had a pretty lousy day at work today, and since I got home it's just sorta been festering. I haven't been able to let it go. But now here I am, getting ready for bed, and I'll go to sleep with a smile on my face just thinking about those two little munchkins. Give 'em a kiss for me and make sure they know their Bubba loves them. Literally.
so cute!! and how sweet of your brother!!
Yet another benefit of two (versus three) kids. If you recall, we split the week-- you had M & Th, I had T & F, and Bubba had W and Sa. It was never "fair" (we don't go anywhere together on Saturday!) - so mom invented the popsicle-stick method (ripe for cheating). I'm still in therapy over this. :)
And, like Bubba, I live for reading these posts. Wish I lived closer.
WAIT WAIT WAIT wait a sec hold on hang on I think I've found a flaw in your plan...
What happens on the 7 different months when it goes from the 31st to the 1st?? And the once-every-four-year 29th to the 1st? Susanna's getting an unfair bias towards her number of days.
I gotta stick up for the boy. And I had a much better day today.
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