The Reason, Discovered

One thing that I've been a bit baffled by during these first few days of kindergarten is that we always seem to be rushing in the mornings. I know that is probably a typical feeling for families getting ready for school, but I thought I'd got it covered.  I mean, I'm only trying to get one kid out the door.  I make his lunch the night before.  His backpack and homework are always ready to go, waiting at the front door.  Getting him dressed is no hassle at all because unlike so many of his pals (boys and girls), Boylee has almost no interest in what he's wearing, which means he will accept any clothing combo at all. (To those who noted his tie dye/camo combo on Day 1? My idea, not his.) Getting myself dressed is no hassle, since I'm not heading off to work or anything.  Breakfast doesn't require a lot of cooking, and then all we have to do is wash face and brush teeth.  It seems that we should easily be able to get up, get moving and get out the door within 50 minutes. Right?

Except each morning we've been rushing at the last minute. I hate rushing, personally. And I especially hate being a Rushed Mom who has to keep saying things like, "Hurry, hurry!" and, "Let's go!"  

This morning I figured out the culprit:  breakfast.  It's not that it's a complicated affair -- this morning Boylee had a tortilla, watermelon and yogurt.  It's that it takes soooo long -- 30 minutes -- for him to eat!  He's not doing anything else at the time -- we're not watching TV or anything like that. It's just that he takes a bite...tells me something about school yesterday... takes a bite... tells me about what he wants to do after school... takes a bite... sings a little song to himself. It takes forever!!  This morning I watched it unfold, one eye on the clock, one eye on him. I literally couldn't believe that we sat down to eat at 7:15 and he wasn't done until 7:45.  And when school starts at 8:06 (8:06? 8:06!), and we still have to do the personal hygiene part, get in the car, drive to school, and deal with the crazy parking, that's just not going to work.  

But I actually don't want to lose any of it -- all that talking he does is precious and is probably the very most important part of the morning --  so we will just have to wake up a bit earlier.  Luckily I am getting the hang of the alarm clock.