Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Nothin' but her shoes on.

Normally Kenny leaves the house after Jill gets on the bus. He pretends he does this to help me, but really he likes to sleep in. However, I do appreciate it, because it means I don't have to wake Emmi up and dress her until after Jill is off to school. Much easier on me. But on days when he needs to leave before I take Jill, it requires quite a bit of planning. Generally, I end up taking the car to the bus stop. Don't laugh. The damn stop isn't even on our street, because we live on a cul-de-sac off of another cul-de-sac that the bus can't get down. So this morning when Kenny had to leave well before bus time, I had to get Emmi up early.

Emmi grumped. Emmi struggled. Emmi kicked. And finally Emmi was dressed. And now we are two minutes late, putting us in serious jeopardy of missing the bus. In a flurry of coats and shoes and Emmi's pancake she is desperately trying to bring, I hustled the girls into the car. Score. We made it on time. The bus pulls up, Jill gets her coat on, and reaches for her backpack...... which we did not bring!

"Mommmmmmyyyy. NOOOOOOO! I forgot my backpack." She looks panicked. Tears are welling up in her eyes.

"Jill sit back down. I'll just take you to school. Let's go get your backpack."

We turn around, and head back home. A quit mental calculation of time, and I realize that by taking Jill to school Emmi will miss her bus. Taking Emmi is a chore. I have to cancel transportation, request an assistant to walk her into class, or sign in and walk her in myself. All said and done, I would be waiting in drop-off lines and bringing kids to school for ONE HOUR. No way. With two kids at two different elementaries that start at two different times, it was out of the question. At least if I want to stay sane. Sane is good.

"Jill, honey, you are going to have to be late for school. I'll take you after Emmi's bus."

"Yes!" She cheers. And the run off to play for the twenty minutes until Emmi's bus arrives.

At 8:20, I pack up Emmi's lunch. I have no idea where she threw her coat after we got out of the car, so I hunt for it. I notice Emmi has taken off her shoes, and they are by the door.

"Jillbug, can you help Emmi get her shoes on," I yell up the stairs.

No repsonse.

"Jiiiilllll?"

Then.......

"Uhhhh Mommy, Emmi is naked."

No! The bus is pulling up, and EMMI IS NAKED. STRIPPED. NO CLOTHES. Attempting to wiggle into a leotard. No. No. No. Now she is going to miss her bus!

Jill grins. Jill giggles. "Mommy. Still want me to put her shoes on her?" She collapses in giggles. "She'll have nothin' but her shoes on." And she laughs some more.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't know how you people with more than one kid manage to deal day in and day out. My hat's off.

Thanks for the comment at Ethan's World, I found it very helpful. I like the analogy of the lights in the house - sort of makes perfect sense. We saw his audi today and I'm feeling a bit better b/c he now has a map on the new ear that is very similar to the other ear. I hope that means it won't sound as strange to him.

Take it easy!

Sheri said...

Well, I must say she is acting like a typical preschooler. I am so sick of the 10 outfit changes Ava is insisting on everyday. @@

Is this the kind of chaos I get to look forward to once they are both in school? Then, don't be shocked if I am drunk by 10am. Hey, it gives me a 5hrs to sober back up for them to get home from school. ;)