A certain group of monkeys woke up SO early this morning. “Hailey, you don’t know what early mornings are, your kids sleep until 9:00!” I know, I know, my kids are great sleepers. They’ve been waking earlier recently, for the record, but the last few days have been around 6:30 which, while not unheard of, is definitely on the early side of things for all of us. Including them. With this shift, plus adding in school and other activities, everyone’s attitudes have taken a bit of a hit, and the kids are grouchy in the mornings. The mornings used to be the best time of their day, but its been a struggle the last little while.
This morning was similar, in the way that it was getting scrappy. All three older kids were constantly nitpicking at each other, tattling over everything, crying very easily, etc. Its survivable, but draining behavior. Brady decided to take the kids on a bike ride, because sometimes a change of scenery is the best thing. The kids were thrilled, and everyone was eager to get dressed and get going. I was feeling fairly wiped out from the morning myself, but Brady was willing to take everyone on his own. Anticipating the break ahead gave me some good energy, and I helped everyone get ready to go. Except the entire time they were supposed to be getting ready, they were fighting!! Dekker would throw clothes at Laela, who would then scream bloody murder at him. Then Dekker would be perpetually sour at Laela, who would then lie about him throwing more clothes, even though I was there and saw that he hadn’t. It was a constant battle, with constant reminders, but it soon became clear that a reward just wasn’t up for grabs in this case.
I know. Trust me, I know. A bike ride would’ve ended some of the fighting and been a distraction. Thats not so much how we parent. We don’t love the redirection thing. No burn on anyone who does! Its just how we do things, and in this case, a bike ride would’ve been easier, but those kids needed a consequence. So we called the bike ride off, and everyone bawled. Brady and I realized right away just how unfair this all was to the little boys, so he took them out to the garage so Rowan could play on the trike and Solly could crawl around with the sand toys.
And thats how I went from getting a break and some silence to cleaning the house with the weepy, wounded children.
It wasn’t how I had hoped to spend my morning, but it was important. And really, it worked out. The kids understood why they lost their outing, and once they got over the initial disappointment, they buckled down and cleaned. But because I’m their parent, I cleaned too. We vacuumed the whole main floor, scrubbed down the chairs and high chairs, wiped all door handles and cabinet handles/drawer pulls. Laela wiped down the bathroom faucet and Dekker cleaned the coffee makers. The fridge, stove, and dishwasher fronts were all washed, and baseboards were dusted. I cleaned the microwave and stove tops, and helped them with their jobs. At that point, I figured we had burned through enough Lysol wipes for one day, and I called everyone in to my huddle. They both remembered what they had done, and owned their punishments. And then we all had a good hug and moved on.
I’m glad the morning is over, but its good that it happened. I’m 110% exhausted right now, which I know I don’t have much of a right to feel, but nevertheless, I am. Brady is going to continue some work into the garage and move some things around. Since we bought biked in spring, there has been no hope of parking our van in the garage, and I’d really like to have that available to us again before winter comes. So some rearranging would be handy, and Brady is willing.
Now just to get my butt up to continue in the productive day…