Morning Moodiness and The Battle Plan

Okay...  So how many of you moms have experienced a child that is Dr. Jekyll by night and then morphs into Mr. Hyde in the morning?

That would be my Noah...

Greyson and Ian get up in the morning with absolutely zero issues...  A little touch on the shoulder or running my hand over the top of their heads and they're up and getting ready.  Shoot, if I'm honest, Greyson often hears my alarm before I do, and is already up and in the shower before I crawl out of bed.  Who do you think Noah inherits his morning humor from?  Yep.  Uh-huh.  I admit it. You probably don't want to even be around me until after my 2nd cup of coffee.  LOL!  I communicate in grunts.  Just.  Like.  Noah.

Noah has always been a little difficult to get going in the morning, but this year it has morphed from occasional morning mishaps into nearly impossible to get him out of bed.  Every.  Single.  Day.  He's missed the bus countless times and been tardy more than I would like to admit.  I am a firm believer that mornings should be started out on the right foot because it determines how the rest of your day goes.  But lately more often than not, I've looked like this...

and he's looked like that:

and the rest of my kiddos reap the side effects of a chaotic morning.

Not a great way to start the day.  And then I end up feeling bad that I've yelled at him and he goes to school feeling bad.  I feel guilty.  He feels sad.  Ugh.  Parenting...  One of the hardest jobs EVER.

After one particularly bad morning, I called and talked to the school principal.  I am pretty blessed to have a great working relationship with her and the rest of our teachers at our small elementary school.  Of course, it helps that I've had a child at our school for the last 6 years and between 5 of them, we've had pretty much every teacher at least once, sometimes twice...  with the exception of two recent hires.

In complete frustration, I called her and asked for her help.  Never underestimate what reaching out for help can do.  I have come to recognize that any problems I've had with my kids regarding school or even at home (thankfully they've been few and far between), someone else has had too.  It doesn't make you less of a parent to ask for advice, but instead it makes you a better parent to admit that there is a problem and you're at a loss for what to do.  And usually, it helps you get a fresh perspective or maybe think of things from a different angle.

Thankfully, I had already spoken to Noah's teacher about his mornings during conferences, mainly because I wanted to know if he seemed sad at school.  Thank goodness she was surprised to hear that our mornings were so awful and he never gave a hint of what was transpiring nearly every morning.  She said she would continue to keep an eye on him and if she noticed anything amiss, she would give me a call.

Since the problem has only gotten worse the last couple of weeks, we decided to implement a plan of school and home working together to get Noah motivated to get up in the morning.

This is morning #1 of "The Plan".

1.  Lay out his clothes the night before, so he all he has to do is put his clothes on, brush his teeth, wash his face, and walk out the door.  We do this anyway normally, but Noah generally slacks on that.

2.  Be in bed by 9:00 p.m.  For a night owl, this is actually early.  I usually start trying to get him to fall asleep by 9:30, but more often than not he's still going strong by 10:30.  Okay, now how many of you just gasped out loud?  Yeah.  I know.  Not good.  But this is a child that gets wound up the more tired he is (Great for wrestling, not so good at bedtime) and especially after a wrestling practice with his endorphins going, its nearly impossible to get him to sleep at any reasonable hour.  I have literally seen him be bouncing around one minute and then take a minute to lay down and be out in seconds.  Its getting him to lay down and keep still long enough to fall asleep that's the issue.  

Yesterday Noah and I sat down and discussed what would help him be able to get up in the morning.  The first thing out of his mouth was, "Go to bed early."  Okay.  He understands that.  So, last night (Praise the Lord!) he was in bed and asleep by 9:00.

3.  I wake him up in increments.  I go in 30 minutes before he needs to be up to start the process of waking him.  Then, I go in again at 15 minutes before, telling him each time how much time he has left.  Then I go in at 5 minutes.  This morning, he got up at the 5 minutes til mark.  YAY!

4.  Instant gratification.  He earns incentives at school.  His teacher already has a program set up where they earn "money" to "spend" in a treat box. Noah loves working for something, so he really gets into "saving" and then "spending" his money.  The children earn "money" by doing homework, paying attention in class and doing their "job" at school that goes into a "Super Savings Account".  Its an ingenious idea, really.  It teaches the kids to work hard and earn something in return for hard work.  At the end of the week, they have the option to spend their earnings.  Noah will get 3 cents each morning he is on time that goes into his "account".  That's an extra 60 cents a month that he gets just for being on time in the morning.

5.  He earns incentives at home.  Noah will also get a sticker at school on a chart for each day that he is on time.  After three days in a row of being on time, he can then play his XBOX for 30 minutes.  If he is on time for the entire week, he gets an hour of XBOX time each day on the weekend.

This is really a great example of home and school working together to solve a problem.  I am so very blessed to have such wonderful staff at our elementary school that I feel I can call on and then work with for the betterment of my kiddos.  I know there are many out there that aren't so fortunate.

So, this is me hoping that this will work.  The goal is that after a while he will be so in the habit of going to bed at a decent hour and getting up in the morning, that the incentives at home are no longer required and he can have his normal hour of XBOX time back each day.  He will continue getting his 3 cents a day at school until the end of the year.

I tell ya, it was so nice to send him out the door this morning with a smile and a hug, instead of a frown and a hug.  And hopefully each morning, we'll look this this:

Fingers crossed!

Back to School & Back To Real Progress

Yippee!  School is in!!!!

I ushered off my little brood onto that merry, bright-colored yellow transporter of freedom this morning.  After a hearty pancake breakfast, their rosy little cheeks were washed, their pearly little teeth were brushed, and their golden hair was combed.  They set about putting on their fabulous first day fashions and at last I waved them happily on their way.  With a big grin on my face, I called out to them to have a great day and I watched the bus roll down the road until it was out of sight...  You know, just to make sure it wasn't coming back... Until 3:45.

YAY!  A quiet house reigns once more!!!

Now it's just me and little man in this big old house all by ourselves.  Daddy is at work and the little man is a super kiddo!  He's just about 4, so he colors and he plays and he watches a little TV and he likes to just sit and watch what I'm doing.  I finally got him potty-trained this summer by putting my foot down and banning diapers from the house, so its smooth sailing from here, folks!  I am absolutely giddy at the thought of all I will be able to get done!  Can't you tell?!

Now, don't get me wrong.  I love each and every one of my little urchins sweethearts, but with a gaggle of 5 at home its nearly impossible to get anything accomplished during the day.  My house has now been cleaned and has stayed clean for 8 hours!  Its a miracle! Laundry has been done, dinner is in the crockpot, dishes are washed...  I tell ya, I feel downright DOMESTIC!  I get sooooooo much accomplished when they're at school!


Now, I wish I could say that as soon as I waved them all goodbye, that I immediately began working on the furniture that is now crowding the diva's room.  Here's a pic of my pretty girl, by the way (just so you know she really does exist)...

But alas, I did not.  While I love that my boys are in sports, the practices are a headache.  The football player had practice last night and we didn't get home until 9:00.  Dinner had to be made and eaten, clothes laid out, baths taken, and then trying to corral 5 and get them to bed is like herding cats.  The hubs has been in Minnesota for the last 4 days doing a job for a local client's vacation home (what a life, huh?), so I was on my own.  I think I finally got them all settled by 10:30, which in and of itself is a minor miracle considering I accomplished all of the above in an hour and a half.  In the midst of all of that, the football player informs me that the shirt he wants to wear for the first day is dirty (Lord forbid he wear a new shirt) and he would like me to wash it.  So I started a load at 10:30, then while waiting for it to dry got my 2nd wind for the day and started 2 more loads, did dishes, folded clothes, and did a general pick-up.  Don't you hate it when that happens?!  Plus, I was excited for their first day of school and I couldn't turn my mind off.  The hubs was on his way back from Minnesota and I was worried about him driving late, so that didn't help.  I think I finally closed my eyes around 2 am, only to check the clock at 3:30 to realize the hubs wasn't home yet, but he would be shortly.   Then I woke up at 4:30 when he crawled into bed.  Then we had a doozy of a thunderstorm that woke the entire house up at a little after 5.  By the time I got them all settled again, it was 5:30 and I snatched another half hour of half-sleep until the alarm went off at 6.  Grrrrrrr!  Can we say sleep deprived?!


So while I had the best intentions of getting my sawdust on this morning and keeping at it for the rest of the day until my little darlings walked back in the door, it didn't happen.  I waited for another wicked storm to blow through:

Auntie Em!  Auntie Em!  I can't find Toto!

After it had done its worst, which really wasn't that bad considering how bad it looked, I finally crawled into bed with the hubs and thanked the good Lord that little man was actually sleeping in.  By the time I got up again and re-woke back up (It literally takes me an hour to become even a remotely functional human being - Morning person, I ain't.), it was noon.  Yes, I just admitted on blogland that I slept until 11 am.  Slacker and proud of it, after that night!

After doing a few chores, which did not include making any beds or cleaning the bathrooms like I had planned, I did manage to sand the remaining varnish off the two end tables of my Dad's that I stripped late last week.  But that was as far as I got, before I decided to have even more slacker time by visiting with y'all before my little honeys come home.  Tomorrow I plan on priming and painting the 1st coat.  I still haven't decided if I'm going to go distressed white or black yet.  Hopefully, I'll have that figured out by tomorrow.  I'll have to ask the hubs for advice, unless anyone wants to chime in (if there's anyone even reading my boring posts because I never seem to accomplish anything lately).

Room Scheme:  School colors/University of Iowa colors which are the same.  Black, Gold, and White

Wall color:  Top half Hawkeye Gold; Bottom half Black

Furniture:  So far, all black (2 chest of drawers and 1 dresser)

Possibilities:  Old barn wood headboards for the twin beds that are white and distressed. Nightstands and one table they use for their XBOX and cable box stand possibly in distressed white to match the headboards.  

OR

Should I just paint the whole kit and caboodle black???  Headboards, table, and nightstands???

I just can't see it in my head.  I'm afraid it will be too much black in the room, if I go with all black.  But, I'm afraid if I go white then it won't look right with all the dressers and chest of drawers black.  Also, they've got dark wood trim which totally clashes with the black and gold that I'm probably going to end up painting white.  Decisions, decisions!  

Any and all ideas 

would be greatly appreciated!

Well, its almost time for the little buggers to get home and that's when the whirl-wind starts.  I'm sure they'll have all types of exciting news to tell me about their first day and I can't wait to hear their stories.  Dinner will be served and then its off to football practices again. Four nights this week (UGH!), before they switch to three nights.  Then tomorrow we get to do it all again!

Life is good.