Yeehaw!

It's Monday!  First day back to school after Thanksgiving break!  Ahhhh.  Can't relax yet though, have to get kiddies off to school.

Getting kids ready for school can be challenging.  Getting ASD kids ready is like spinning a plate on a stick while you hop on one foot and do your taxes.  Ok, maybe not that bad, but let's review:

• 6:07 *rattle-rattle* Ben's awake!  Yay, he slept past 6:00!
• 6:08 "Good morning, good morning!" Change diaper, put on breakfast clothes (he's eating soy yogurt this morning and that might be messy).
• 6:15 start Pocoyo on Netflix/computer, hide the dog's water and food, vitamins, make coffee, apple juice, yogurt w/granola, let the dog out, exhale.
• 6:30 go downstairs, turn on wii, discover that it's not working, switch to dvd player and Bear in the Big Blue House , bounce on bed (that yogurt stayin' down?), build some train tracks, gather up checkers from the floor and take them upstairs to throw down again, repeat.
• 6:55 go get newspaper (Ben loves getting the newspaper), admire purple clouds, start shower for Bubba (pick up checkers from tub first), go wake up Bubba, retrieve Ben who has just busted in and jumped on his sleeping mother.
• 7:10 pack gluten-free/casein-free lunch, write "home note" in school journal, Mama's ready to take over now...go to the bathroom.
• 7:30 Bubba finally gets out of the shower, puts PJs back on (why?).  Get Bubba some yogurt ("NO Ben!  That's Bubba's yogurt!") and vitamins, discuss with Bubba what his goal for the week in school will be and fill out the form, lay out clothes for Bubba, shoo Ben out of Bubba's room (he can really wreak some havoc in there), get Ben in his school clothes.
• 7:40 Send Bubba off to brush his teeth and get dressed.  Bubba vanishes into his room.  Ben wants to go play in the back yard now, and we use this as an excuse to get his shoes and coat on.  Meanwhile, we talk about his schoolmates and how nice it would be to see them.  Ben starts rattling off their names, which makes me genuinely happy.  I also take a moment to feel shame that I lost the invitation to a birthday party a couple of weeks ago.  I can't even remember which kid sent it.
• 7:45 Bubba emerges from his room.  Yay!  He's dressed in clean clothes!  And a warm hat!  "You need shoes on, buddy."  Bubba goes back into his room to find socks, shutting the door.
• 7:50  "OK!  Put those shoes on!" " I want to wear my other shoes."  "OK!  Where are they?" "I'll go look for them."  Ben is maintaining very well.  Other mornings have not gone so smoothly.
• 7:55 Bubba is now ready to go.  He's not wearing the warm coat that I'd hoped for, but he's 4th grade stylish and now is not the time to argue.  It's time to go!  Ben's school starts in 5 minutes...thank Odin we live close by.  Oops!  Grab a snack for Bubba's backpack.  Out the door we go.  Ben heads for the street.  Chase him down and load up the car.
• 8:03 Arrive at school, having listened to U2 at only slightly excessive volume.  Bubba's been pretending to sing along and Ben is fascinated.  We dash into school and pause around the corner from the classroom.  I whisper, "Ben!  Let's sneak up on them!"  He goes for it, and we head into the room.  Happy greetings from the teachers (they are the BEST).
• 8:10  No rush now...Bubba's school doesn't start for 20 minutes and it's only a couple of blocks away.  We arrive and he heads in to hang out with the other early kids in the cafeteria.  A couple of his good friends are in that group, so he should have fun.
• 8:15 Head home and do all of those things that are hard to do when the kids are around...pay bills, decipher medical bills, recycle, laundry, etc.   I'll write a blog post first though.

This has been a pretty awesome morning...there were no tantrums, nobody's sick, we all got a pretty good night's sleep.  If I was going to be in a Star Trek episode where they get stuck in a time loop, I might just pick this morning.

(not really, I'd be in Mexico with my honey, but this is good)