I watch the kids occasionally. Usually from morning to the afternoon. I didn't really think of how different this morning would be since I would have to break my cardinal rule and wake one of them up.
My day started at around 6:30 with the baby not really crying, just making fussy noises. For him fussy noises is crying. The kid rarely cries! So I snuggled with him for a little hoping he would fall back asleep so I could get another thirty minutes of sleep. Didn't happen, because every two seconds he tried to put his fingers in my mouth. Apparently that is where they belong.
7 am rolled around and it was time to wake up the Big Boy School Kid. I left the baby in the bed, he was happily playing with something that makes a crinkly noise. The door creaked loudly causing me to pause. My oldest nephew and niece share a room. Suffice to say I wasn't ready for her to wake up yet.
I tiptoed over to his bed and called his name quietly. His mouth was wide open and he was sawing logs like a lumber jack. I touched his face and said his name again, a little louder. No dice. I shook his shoulder little and all he did was roll to that side.
The normal way I would wake someone up is one of the following. Jump on the bed. Call their cellphone over and over again because it is normally by their bed. Stroke their nose (like in Practical Magic, it rarely works). Smacking them in the face. Shake them vigorously. Hug them really hard. Sing the wake up song I learned as a kid. Yell their name.
None of these would work in this situation at all. The cellphone one could have, but he is five and doesn't own one. That plus my niece might have woken up. I never really got much practice waking up children. I am the youngest of three girls. All three of us are the worst people in the world to wake up. Not because we won't wake up, but because we will cuss you out for doing so. We get this from our mother. I don't know how much Michelle got this gene really. Julie and I though can be real dragons. That being said, it was kind of a cardinal rule in our house if someone is sleeping let them sleep. Even if they are sleeping in the TV room it is best to just leave them alone and watch your show later. Unless you wanted to start a fight. Which occasionally was the case.
So I have very little practice waking children up nicely. I thought about tickling him but that would just piss him off. I tired saying his name over and over again softly. It was like talking to a brick wall. I pushed down on the bed right beside him a couple of times and he grumbled a little. I tried it again but it didn't get the same result. I tried a combo shoulder shake bed push name call. His eyes opened for a second. I did it again and followed up with, "time to go to school." He grumbled, opened his eyes and said, "Okay." He then got out of bed. I whispered to him to go potty and asked what he wanted for breakfast.
The good thing in this scenario is that Julie was kind enough to dress him in clothes he could wear all day before he went to bed. The bad thing in this scenario is I actually thought I could get him to go to the bathroom and come downstairs unsupervised. After the waffle popped out of the toaster I waited a minute before going upstairs. I found him curled up on the floor between the bathroom and his bedroom sleeping.
Side note, I cannot get this kid to take a nap for the world when I am normally watching him. The fact that he willingly laid down to go back to sleep amazes me. Any other day this situation would have been a gift from God. But no, he had to go to school that day.
I picked him up, and made him stand. He grumbled at me but not much else. At this point the baby started fussing again. So I went and got the baby and then lead his big brother downstairs to eat. As soon as I got him to sit down and eat I heard the bedroom door creak. My niece was awake.
Of course she was grumpy, she is her mother's daughter. Of course she didn't recognize that I couldn't do what she wanted me to do because I was changing the baby's diaper. And of course, she cried about it. Not a full blown melt down but a pout all the same.
Poopie diaper all cleaned up, all three kids fed, the rest of the morning went pretty smoothly. There were some gripes and grumbles. The little girl wanted to watch Power Rangers and I accidentally put on Despicable Me which caused a little bit of a meltdown when my Aunt Kathi arrived. Other than that I got the kid to school only about 15 minutes late. Not bad for my first try!
I love kids. They are fun and interesting individuals. They are why I became a teacher. But a classroom setting is very different from a house. I will continue to watch my niece and nephews, because I love them. But really a classroom of thirty kids is easier than at home with three kids under 5.
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