6:55am - a critical moment

6:55 is one of those moments in the day where it really makes or breaks the day for me.  It a major cross roads for how my morning will go.   It can go one of two ways.  The good way or the very bad way.

Here's the good way:
5:30 ish Calvin wakes up and doesn't get into too much trouble until I get up
6:15am - my alarm goes off and I get up to start helping Calvin get ready for school.  I help him get dressed and cook a good breakfast for him. We usually play a game - UNO,Monopoly, Blink, Guess Who - while we eat.  We put Calvin's contact in, find shoes, I pack his lunch.
6:55am- the bus arrives and Calvin hops on the bus with a hug and kiss goodbye. 
Then, I'm FREE!!! :)
7am - if Dave is home I take Tressel for a walk
7:40 - either take a quick shower or wake up the girls depending on what I have going on that morning.

The rest of the morning is so great and so easy with a few little bumps in the road as would be expected with 3 little ones needing to be dressed and fed!

I have been pretty blessed that since we got back from our trip I've had all good days until today. 9 days in a row. Today would have been the 10th day and Calvin would have earned the privilege of using the Kindle Fire on the bus. but he totally melted down this morning and we had a rough morning....

Here is the miserable way mornings sometimes go- this was today

6:15am - my alarm goes off. I go to look for Calvin and see that he has obviously been up a time or two in the night as there are wrappers of food on the counter and on the floor and graffiti on my kitchen counter, white board, calendar or any number of other places.  I find Calvin is in bed. Not sleeping but not in the mood to get up.  I know we are going downhill fast so I put on my happy mom voice and offer to make a great breakfast, play monopoly and remind him that it is the 10th DAY!! 

Calvin sort of tries to pull it together. Get's dressed, gets a contact in but doesn't eat. We play monopoly until 6:55. The bus arrives. we make it out the door, we make it up the driveway., we make it onto the bus. Buuuutttt, we do not make it into our seat. We sit at the bus and whine about how we don't want to go but don't want to go back to day 1 on our kindle fire goal. We freeze. Finally the allotted 5 minutes of waiting has passed and we go inside. I tell Calvin that if he is indeed sick he doesn't have to go to day 1 but can go inside and rest until he is feeling better. 

It is 7am. The crying fits, hysterics, swearing and tantrum begin. The girls each get woken up by the screaming. I feed the girls and get them ready amidst the awful noise.  At one point Calvin does take a 10 minute time out and comes out of his room but obviously not fully in control.  We move forward.

I have to make the decision about which one of my kids will be late. CAlvin's school starts  at 8:30. If I take him first, Clare is late. Her school starts at 8:50.  The drive to CAlvin's school is AT LEAST one hour round trip. Lately I've been taking Clare first because it takes longer to get Calvin to school and I feel bad having her sit in the car for so long in the morning and miss class.

8:25 load the car. Drop of Clare first and then head to Calvin's school. We get there at 9:15 and he says he hates second period. I "wait him out"  (meaning I don't drag him in to the school against his will but wait until he can come in on his own.) Lex and I tour the school with Calvin trailing but not wanting to go to class and start work.

9:45ish- the teachers say I can go and they will block Calvin's access to the door to keep him safe.

10:15 - we arrive home and Jo go straight to bed, she is late for her nap and cried a lot of the way in the car.

There are certainly much worse things that could happen in life but it is sure makes me appreciate my good days to have one go so wrong as it did today. And as luck would have it, I got a call at 2:30 saying Calvin was not safe getting on the bus this afternoon so I had to go get him at the end of the day also!