Routine

I broke the first Cardinal rule of parenting.


....deep breath.....

I never established a routine for Sarah.....

And as someone's 3rd birthday is looming, this unconscience  decision that was made is coming around to bite this mom in the ASS.

Sarah used to be a great sleeper, down and out by 830 on the dot. As she has gotten older and her surroundings have changed she takes the whole "bedtime" thing a lot less serious. She knows she will get around to it eventually, and can't understand WHY all the adults are so obsessed with something so boring. I mean she does have a pretty packed schedule, between potty training, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, tickles and bath time, there just aren't enough hours.

That unspoken curse every mother murmurs under their breath when the child is acting a fool, you know the one, you yourself have probably heard it a time or two.. "One day, I hope you have a kid JUST LIKE YOU." This witchcraft is real and very powerful, and has been fulfilled in my offspring.

This kid, like me and my father before me, is a night owl. She will be knocking on the sandman's door all afternoon but as soon as that clock hits 9 she gets her second wind and the nightly struggle begins. I am ashamed to say that there have been nights that she as seen the AM side of a late night.

Husband and I have been getting closer and closer to a bridge that we are going to have to inevitably cross, breaking Sarah of her bad night time habits and starting a routine. To be honest, up until about a week ago, we couldn't even find the damn bridge and when we did our favorite song came on the radio and we had to finish or it looked like it was going to rain. Yesterday was the day, the point of no return.

Sarah had a horrible night, husband and I have been sleeping in separate rooms to accommodate our little princess and she had decided to "sleep" with Daddy.  I use the term loosely because she didn't fall asleep for about another 2 hours. Then it was up early for school and this was the first time she had ever pushed back and not wanted to go see her guys, as she so affectionately calls them. She didn't want to get up, she didn't want to get dressed and didn't want her Grammy to leave her at school. Then it happened, at pick up time one of the teachers came over and had to have a chat with my mom. Sarah hadn't just had a bad night and an off morning, this was the first time in almost a year of attendance that they had to reprimand Sarah, in their politically correct way of course. When I got this news all of the bad decision making and leniency on our part had finally caught up with us.

This behavior didn't stop when we got home, she pushed boundaries, didn't listen to anyone and by bath time we were all exhausted and so was she. We needed a plan, not only does she not have a routine but she also has started to exibit some troublesome behavior that we need to stop before it becomes the norm.

I laid in bed last night and my mind was racing, between thoughts of failures as parents to bouncing back from this. I was also torn, Sarah has accomplished so much this past week, we started potty training and she took off with it, She has only had one accident. How is it she can grasp something like potty training so easily but not bed time? Then it hit me, with the potty training we were rewarding her for using the potty and when it came to bed time we were always tired and pretty much begging, pleading and loosing patience with her.

I hit pinterest and the craft aisle at target and came home with a plan. A reward board! Why had I never thought about this before?!?!?!? We are going to try to address more than one issues with this board but also not overwhelm her. I think/hope/pray that this will help us right our terrible, most thinkable wrong.

Cool Kids

Sarah's school is fancy.

It follows a new and improved curriculum for kids even her age, that would put my old school Sesame Street edu to shame.

In all honesty, I didn't have much to do with the picking of said school. At the time Sarah was involved in My Gym and they decided to close their doors so we were left, very suddenly, with "what do we do now?"

Still being raw from the move and being thrust in to a new city, new job, new home, I was actually relieved when my SIL said she was looking for a particular program for Sarah. Between the two of them, my MIL and SIL have 40 years of education experience, so sure I let them take the reigns on this one.

Anyway, the new shiny, fancy school has done wonders for Sarah. She LOVES going to see her "guys" as she calls everyone. This new, shiny school had parent/teacher conferences last night and in a moment of mom guilt I decided to go. Up until last week, I had never stepped foot on NSS (new,shiny school), not for lack of wanting but momma's gotta pay bills. So I became the ever absent mother, and God love husband, he does a lot of the drop off and pick up and his car is the Bermuda triangle. NOTHING (including Amelia Earhart) makes it in to the house from school. Things have been missed like special art days and a class fiesta.

I arrived early yesterday and decided to sit in my car and browse buzz feed and revel in the few moments I had to listen to music that didn't include a single animal sound. Cars carrying other parents started to fill the spaces next to me and I when riders emptied out in the courtyard I noticed all the moms greeting one another, hugging and catching up. They all looked like they stepped out of those fabletitcs commercials, kids all dressed in traditional, smocked southern attire. I felt the pangs of something I hadn't felt in over ten years. I was transported back to the school cafeteria, holding that always sticky plastic tray, hoping to see a familiar face in the crowd.

I that feeling, one of being a lone in a sea of people, hit me hard. I could almost smell the intoxicating mix of number two pencil shavings and pizza (Fiesta pizza day was my fave lunch day of the week). I almost didn't wan to get out of the car, what would they think when I walked past? Bags under my eyes, glasses smudged, a stain on my shirt from lunch, a hair tie that is barely hanging on.

Would they judge me? Would they greet me as warmly as they had each other? Are they fitness instructors coming in between teaching a class?

I didn't have the answers to these burning questions I had but there is one thing I did know: I wanted, as much as I did in that school cafeteria,  to be a "cool kid."