It’s 6:45 AM and Cassie’s already thrown her first tantrum of the day. Lovely.
I decided two weeks ago that the whole family needed to practice getting up early and running through our morning routine the way we will once Cassie starts preschool. Up until yesterday, though, I’m the only one who’s been doing that. Michael claims he’s not a morning person, and has continued to sleep until 7 AM. I can’t get Cassie and Sam up and going at the same time, so I’ve been juggling between the two, trying to at least get Cassie used to the idea of breakfast first, then playtime. Now we’re in the final week before preschool. Michael has gotten up early two days in a row, but Cassie keeps protesting that she wants her Sesame Street first before she’ll eat. What she doesn’t understand is that come next week, she won’t be getting any Sesame Street at all, before or after breakfast, because she’ll be headed off to school.
At least Cassie got up early this morning. She came trotting into our bedroom at 6:15 while Michael was still in the shower. I was working on the dreaded novel synopsis so I let Cassie crawl into our bed while I tapped away at the laptop. At 6:30, I told her she needed to get up and get dressed. That’s when the tantrum started.
Cassie: “I don’t want to get dressed. I eat in my pajamas!”
Me, picking up a very hungry Sam who has just woken up and wants to nurse: “That’s not how it works, young lady. You get dressed first, then you eat.”
Cassie, pulling the covers up to her chin: “No! No no no! Eat first!”
Me, still holding a fussing Sam: “Cassandra, get up and get dressed, now!”
Cassie dives under the quilt. I pull it off of her. She giggles and grabs at the quilt again. I get pissed and yank it back.
Me: “Young lady, if I have to put your sister down to make you get out of that bed and get dressed, you’re getting a spanking!”
Cassie, now playing tug of war with the quilt: “No no no no no no!”
Naturally, I am forced to put Sam down, which only makes her howl. I march over to the bed, envisioning snatching Cassie by the ears and dragging her screaming into her room. Sensing her impending fate, Cass jumps out of the bed and runs for it. All that saves her from a butt-paddling is Michael going after her to get her dressed. I finally sit down with Sam and nurse.
I know this is a scene that’s going to repeat itself many mornings. No matter how badly Cassie wants to go to preschool, she’s still bent on dawdling and doing things her own way in her own time. I just hope I can find my patience before I really do have to catch her by the ears.
Here’s some artwork from Sunday. Yes, it’s a soccer ball. It’s part of an assignment from Manga Academy. I’m supposed to hunt through various manga, looking for drawings of simple objects and then copy those drawings, paying attention to tone and line thickness in relation to the light source in the image. Considering that manga mainly focuses on people’s bodies and faces, it’s taking me forever to find simple inanimate objects to draw. However, I like my little soccer ball. It actually looks like a soccer ball, with a light source shining on it, so I’m pleased.
Soccer Ball, 27 August 2006
New baby is almost nine months old, and I still have not gotten to work on time more than maybe five times!
I made a deal with my husband, because he is home with the baby now after being fired, that we would trade off weeks dropping the three year old off at day care. That way, he’s not too stressed, and I’m not too stressed getting stuck in traffic week after week.
Now, if only I could actually wake up and get out of bed by six, I might make it to work on time! Still working on it……
Robyn, you gotta get yourself some “go juice” in the morning. I made sure I had the best coffee maker I could afford, and I set that sucker up every night before I go to bed. That way coffee is hot and ready for me when I crawl out at the butt-crack of dawn. If java isn’t your thing, get some tea and a nice mug to drink it out of. It that don’t do it for you, forget it. You’re screwed.