I'll Do Better in the Future

I miss the good ol' days.

I had two solid years of being incredibly spoiled. Alexis, she who was born to act as a human alarm clock, was more than happy to wake her sister every day and get her dressed. Everybody was happier for the arrangement. I didn't have to be the jerk who wakes up a baby. Alexis got to do something she enjoys. Mila was less angry about being awakened because Alexis. Everything is more fun with Alexis.

But then came middle school. The middle school bus departs from our neighborhood at an hour that is so early NOBODY should have to be up and moving. It's complete craziness, so I can't really convince myself that Mila should be awake in time to see Alexis in the mornings. The Tiny Human does not cope well with mornings, so the later we can start them, the better.

Thus, I have to get Mila up and going in the mornings now. You should feel sorry for me because IT SUCKS. I miss that sisterly love thing like crazy.

But, I mentioned that thing where Mila is bad at mornings, right? She's so bad at mornings. It's hereditary, so we make quite the couple. Neither one of us is capable of getting up and out the door in a  reasonable amount of time.

With Mila, though, there's a routine that has to be followed OR ELSE. She has to start with a really long hug, then she'll sit on the couch and watch Paw Patrol, then she will eat a bowl of cereal (but not that cereal -- THAT cereal), and then she might be willing to get dressed. You can't cut anything out of the routine. If I get her up late and need her to skip the Paw Patrol portion of the events, TOO BAD. She can't. It's against her religion.

Thus, I follow the rules each and every morning. Mostly, anyway.

There's just one little thing that's been adding an extra wrinkle to the game - I nearly have Mila convinced she can get herself dressed in the morning. She really can. It just requires a layer of patience that I'm not sure I possess. It takes her fooooorrrreeeevvvver. But, it's worth it. If the kid gets good at dressing herself, I get to tap out on part of the morning. I've been suffering through the 20-30 minutes it takes for her to pull on some leggings and a dress because it's good when I get to tap out.

This morning, though. This morning I got up an hour early and needed Mila up an hour early because I needed to be at work a little earlier than I usually am. The goal was to end up just 15 minutes early than normal, so SURELY allowing an extra hour would be good enough.

It wasn't.

Mila found a way to move even slower. There are sloths who have finished marathons faster than the kid managed to put her pants on today. I was generally patient, but eventually I couldn't do patient any more so I put her socks on for her.

Her plain white socks.

Apparently I put them on the wrong feet.

Except, I was in no mood to argue about things like that, so whatever. Mila screamed at me and threw a fit and I didn't care. I shoved her in the car anyway, where she promptly fixed her own damn socks which FINE. GO AHEAD AND FIX THEM.

The very first words out of Mila's mouth this afternoon when I picked her up from daycare were, "Don't touch my socks. You always put them on the wrong foot."

Hold grudges? What? MY KID?