Back to School!

First day of school for Bunny and JD. Got up, got ready, got to school.

Bunny was up early, JD had to be rolled out of bed, literally. I was up at 5:58, just ahead of my alarm. It took me a minute to figure out what time it was. I knew it was after 5 because Wife was not in bed. Listening, it sounded like the exhaust fan in the bathroom was going, meaning it was between 5 and 5:30. After all of this deep thinking, my alarm began to chime.

6:00am. 

I realized that the sound was the return vent on the wall above and behind my bed, evacuating as much warm air as possible.

Up! I told myself. Attack the day!

That is my new mantra: Attack the day!

Every unproductive day begins with an unproductive awakening. Lay there, turn on the TV to, "See what's going on in the world." That leads to staring at something interesting but unimportant to my life, and, more to the point, unproductive to my morning.

Up! Get dressed! Oh, my underwear is in the dryer. Just then, I heard something from the next bedroom. Worried that Bunny would fall out of bed (again,) I peeked in. Little eyes peeked back.

Damn!

The last thing you want when you get up early to get a bunch of stuff done is a child on your hip. Slows you down by 50%. Why? First, Bunny is not as fast as me. She can't climb stairs as fast and then asks for a hand. Second, she wants to talk. Third, she wants breakfast. These are not bad things. Not misbehavior. Just a drag.

So we got laundry going, then lunch, then breakfast.

As I have written, the most important thing to do in the morning is finish the things that have to be done to walk out the door. Everything else comes after. 

By 6:45, I was well on my way and it was time to get JD. He was not up and didn't want to get up. And, I found out by poking at him, that he had an accident. Not a big deal, just another thing to do today; another load of laundry. As he fought the act of getting out of bed (he was finally awake,) I gathered the corners of the sheet and mattress protector and pulled it all out of bed. Thud.

Get up, get dressed. I threw some clothes at him, took his wet clothes, wrapped them in the wet bedding, and headed downstairs.

The rest of the morning was unremarkable. JD actually ate at a good pace (it has taken him 45 minutes to eat two pancakes. Thanks, Autism.) Teeth brushed. Hair brushed. Backpack packed with lunch, water, and afternoon snack. School supplies. Out the door.

Here's the tricky part: Bunny's preschool is technically through JD's elementary school but they don't have enough room. So, for the last three years, it has been at a different, still local, elementary school who did have the space. It had always started after elementary school, making drop-off easier.

This year, elementary drop-off is after preschool, so there is no time to sit with Bunny and help her out. This was especially good today, as I didn't have an anxiety-ridden, crying, clinging three-year-old. Bunny is a big-girl four-year-old. She walked in, took her first-day picture, gave me a hug, and JD and I were off.

I should back up. Bunny's school is about 3/4 of a mile away. We pass JD's school on the way, which is only one block. So, we have to leave at 7:50 to be on time. Today, to be safe, we walked out the door at 7:40am. I am not foolish enough to think that this ideal timing will ever happen again. The kids hopped into the jogging stroller and we arrived at school well ahead of the 8:00am start time.

First day of preschool drop-off is complicated by taking pictures. Other days, it is complicated by the kids signing their names every day. Fortunately, Bunny can write her name just fine, so I will be able to kiss-and-go.

Then, we ran to JD's school. According to RunKeeper, Bunny's school was 0.70 mile from our house. JD's school was 0.60 from Bunny's. Plenty of time for me to get there in the seven minutes. Again, Bunny's started at 8. JD's lines up at 8:13am.

Arrived in time to line him up, go over some expectations of the day, get a few pictures, and watch him walk inside.

Will continue to report on how this develops.