Our Morning Routine

I thought I'd write a brief narrative about our morning routine. It's not an easy job getting three toddlers dressed, moved downstairs, and then fed. It's a lot of work and if you haven't had a good night's rest (which sometimes happens in a house infested with toddlers), it can take more energy than one has stored up. This is why I help Kara with the morning routine--it takes the energy of two adults!

Kara is a night owl which means she isn't at her perkiest in the morning. Bentley is also a night owl. Jake and Viva are looking to be early birds. They'd like to be up earlier than their current routine allows, but they are good sports and play along with the house rules.

This is the house rule for mornings: If you wake up before mom, don't get her up; talk quietly to your siblings and stay in your crib. So far this works because Bentley is the only one that regularly gets out of his crib and he (as I mentioned before) is also a night owl, so he's not given to getting up and roaming around in the morning.

When the twins wake up, they sing and chatter in their cribs until Kara or I admit defeat, er, until we accept that a new day has begun. We stumble into their bedroom and are greeted by happy cries of welcome. Finally they can get up! You'd think they'd be jumping into our arms when we approach their cribs, but, no, they leap as far away from us as the crib allows. We have to lean way over and snag a leg and drag them to where we can grab their wriggling little bodies and lift them out of the cribs.

Next we lay them on the carpet and have a wrestling match (depending on their mood) to get their pajamas off and change their diaper. Sometimes when you turn your back to grab for the diaper, they roll over and spring up and run off. You are then faced with the choice of getting up and chasing them around the room or trying to verbally coax them back into your reach. It's a delightful start to the the day. For them.

After choosing outfits for all three children and dressing them, it's time to fix Viva's hair. The boys sometimes need their bed head hair tamed, but sometimes they look good with no comb needed. Viva always needs help with her hair. She's pretty good about sitting still while her mom tries out new hairdos. I don't do hairdos; I use barrettes to tame the wild child look.

After the hair taming, we march downstairs. Lately all the kids have been going down on their own which is relief because carting two toddlers downstairs before one has even had breakfast is not an easy feat. If you're trying to herd the trio downstairs on your own, they usually make a break for our bedroom door as they pass by and that requires extra work to round them back up.

When the transfer from bedroom to kitchen is complete, it's time to feed them. Breakfast is usually cereal and milk or home baked muffins or oatmeal or pancakes or whatever their mom wants to try out on them. Well, that's what the twins eat. Bentley has a waffle. He won't eat cereal and milk or oatmeal or pancakes. He sometimes eats home backed muffins. After feeding the trio, we have to clean up the table, the floor, and the toddlers. Finally, the morning routine is complete: It's play time!