7.00 AM - wake up when 'the sun turns on' and start to play (hockey, tonka trucks, dinosaurs, fly-like-superman... whatever is handy) but pretend to be quiet, cause the alarm doesn't go off until 7.30 and grown-ups tend to be growly if we wake them up before the alarm goes off.
7.30 AM - Finally! We can be loud! And play! Oh, and get washed and dressed tidy our room and eat breakfast and pack our bags for school... but only if we're told at least 3 times. Otherwise it's the weekend and we can play!
8.00 AM - Mama Nut has laid out breakfast, made and packed lunches, ensured school bags are properly stocked, checked that clothes are clean, hair is brushed, the right shoes are on the right feet and herded 3 boys to the bus stop.
Two little boys stand in the window calling goodbye to their brothers and frantically waving until the others are indecipherable specks off in the distance. Then they play! (Or watch PBS Kids on tv)
8.15 AM - Ask where mummy is.
8.30 AM - Mama Nut comes through the door and little boys ask for food
8.35 - 11.30 AM - Ask for food. And play!
11.30 AM - 12.15 PM - Poke disinterestedly at food.
12.15 - 2.30 PM - Ride in car, then walk in woods for a very long time. Youngest brother falls asleep in the car on the way home, then wakes up to go to bed for a nap. Other brother gets to play! But is told he must be quiet while Mama Nut rests too.
2.30 - 3.15 PM - "Quiet Time" which involves asking for food, and driving large metal toy trucks up and down the living room floor.
3.15 PM - Mama Nut leaves to pick up big boys from the school bus.
3.20 PM - Ask where Mummy is.
3.25 PM - Smallest Peanut wakes up. Asks where mummy is.
3.30 PM - Mama comes home with big boys. Now it's time to play! And ask for food.
Three children are corralled into doing homework. Messages from school are addressed, belongings are sorted, long narratives of the days events are told.
4.00 PM - Supper preparations begin. Children are asked to help in various ways that make them unhappy because they'd rather play!
5.00 PM - Supper time! This takes 10 minutes if its something we like, and 45 minutes if its something suspicious. If we finish quickly though, we can go downstairs to play!
6.00 PM - Cubs/Beavers/Swim lessons/Y Time/Altar server training... can't we have any time to play?
7.30 PM - Bed time. Rats. We barely got to play today. Must tell my brothers something important.
7.32 PM - Grown-up reminds us it's quiet time.
Start to sing the Marine Land Theme Song.
7.34 PM - Grown-ups starting to sound cranky, and tell us it's bed time.
7.40 PM - I sure wish I could pla.....
Inside, so as not to disturb the Littlest Nuts who are currently neither asking for food or bashing about and I would like to keep it that way, I am laughing so hard I can barely breathe!! Really, they don't get enough time to play.... I should work on that....
ReplyDeleteLOL!!