thrown off

this morning we have been thrown off course. the boy, whom (or who?) i normally wake at 7am, woke up on his own at about 6:10 am. this put a little ripple in the morning. noise.

when the girl started sixth grade she moved into middle school and for the first time my kids were on different schedules. the benefit to this? less noise/fighting.

typically, though we get up at 6am, the girl and i are quiet in the morning. she gets dressed (and i have no doubt that this is more stress-free because they have SMOD [standard mode of dress] and makes her cereal or pop tarts (she doesn't really like eggs) and gets on the computer. i make coffee and get on the computer. we say a few words, but basically both of us are still waking up. we talk more when we're in the driveway waiting on her bus.

normally after i put the girl on the bus i wake the boy (9 times out of 10 he raises his hand and shows five fingers indicating he wants five more minutes please). around 7:05-7:10 i wake him up. he needs a bit more prodding in the morning, more reminding about what his next step is. get dressed (no, you don't need a flannel shirt in the summer; yes, if you have PE today flip flops aren't a good choice), eat breakfast, put your shoes on, brush your teeth....is your book bag ready? did you use toothpaste when you brushed your teeth? then i drive him to school around 10 till 8 because we aren't really with it enough for him to catch the 7:20-7:30 bus.

our car ride to school is the opposite of the car ride it used to be when i was taking both kids to the elementary school. then there was arguing over the radio station, fighting, loud voices, etc. now, w/ just me and the boy in the car we don't argue over the music (he often asks for his maroon 5 cd or my van morrison moondance cd). some days we quietly listen to the radio, some days there's chatter, but there is no arguing.

this morning they were up at the same time, being loud, goofing around. they weren't being bad, but it was out of the norm.