Friday morning:
DH is at home. Little boy wakes up and wants to play on the computer. The bus leaves in 50 minutes. I try and distract him…”Let’s go watch cartoons. I’ll fix you some french toast sticks.” I get him dressed and give him breakfast, then go shower.
After my shower, I ask DH, “Is Little Boy eating his breakfast?”
“No, he said they were too crunchy. I gave him some cereal. ”
“Is he watching TV?”
“No, he’s playing on the computer.”
Uh oh.
Little boy hadn’t touched his cereal. Little boy had a meltdown. He didn’t want to eat. He wanted to play on the computer. I would not let him. He needed breakfast. The bus would be here in five minutes. He would not eat. He would not go brush his teeth. I went in to the room where he was crouched between a bookcase and the sofa. I picked him up to carry him into the bathroom. I caught my heel on the step going down into my (slightly sunken) family. My arms were full of little boy. I could not catch my balance. I fell. Hard. On my left knee.
I started to scream. “Ow, ow, oh, my knee, my knee, ow, oh, my knee.” Really, really loud. DH came running in from the bedroom. I lay there and screamed for 2-3 minutes. The pain started to subside (endorphins, I guess). I was unable to catch my breath. I thought I was going to throw up. I told DH, “This morning has been just awful, and it’s all your fault. I mean, I know you left your mind reading hat at work, and I didn’t tell you the morning routine, but he simply doesn’t have time to play on the computer.” I got up. I could walk. DH fixed breakfast. I drove little boy to school.
Monday morning:
Sunday night, I had carefully explained to little boy what we had to do in the morning. He woke up smiling and giggling at 6:25, after having a good night’s sleep the night before. He got dressed right away. I fixed him frozen waffles. He watched cartoons while he ate. I showered. He came running in after the first segment of Rug Rats was over: “I have to go now! The bus will be coming!” DH walked him to the bus stop.
Moral of the story: It’s not enough to have routines, and for me to know them. All the people involved have to know them.
A good story with a good moral. I’ve had similar experiences, only didn’t handle them as well as you did. How’s your knee now?
It’s OK. I knelt on it today, picking up the family room, and THAT was a mistake. I have a fairly large area over the patella that feels like it’s been injected with novocaine when I poke it. It feels good, in a weird way.
Yep, one of THOSE days! Don’t be fooled by the Monday morning success, where I live it runs about 50/50. When I had little ones, I had a NO TV in the am rule that kept everyone on schedule.
Now I have found that leaving for work before the kids leave for school helps me with the stress.
Watch that knee, though. It’s a pretty important part of the anatomy and when it goes out, can be a real problem later on. Now would be a good time to make everyone else do things for you for a week or so.
-Lori
Lori, that was a diet coke spewing comment. I especially liked the last paragraph.
Isn’t it funny how much kids respond to simple communication? I am astounded by this regularly with my own daughter. They just want people to pay attention, and that’s it. It’s simple to say, but sometimes hard to do.
Good story, Ann.