This morning was smoother than usual, I’m happy to say! And truthfully, I didn’t anticipate it would be. It kicked off with me jolting awake from a horrible nightmare where one of the kids and I were in real danger. I immediately sat up in order to wake myself up, but it was earlier than I’d normally get up. So I was a bit sleepy, but sleepy beats nightmares any day.
I got up on time and got the kids up for school. The big ones got dressed and they collectively set the table. It was pretty normal at that point. They prayed and started eating.
And somehow – I don’t know how – they finished WAY sooner than normal! Most pointedly, Laela finished WAY sooner than usual. She is such a slow eater, especially at breakfast. We’re in that boat where I have to basically nip her heels from beginning of breakfast until she’s out the door. That girl has nothing but time, except that she really doesn’t. I know it, and she knows it, but clearly I’m far more concerned than she is. But today, she was ON it. She was the first done breakfast. She asked to leave the table, put her dishes away, and went to brush up in the bathroom. I helped her with her hair, and she loaded her lunch into her backpack and had it in the entrance. At that point, she had a solid half hour before I’d send them out the door. What a relief! I told her what time she had left, and she lit right up, ran to the little linen closet, and came out with the broom.
“I just see a little mess,” she goes. Now I don’t know about your kids, but my kids are still pretty small, and brooms are hard to coordinate, so I don’t ask them to sweep really ever. If there’s a little mess, we have a hand broom, but she got the big broom, and made a few passes in the kitchen. She cleaned it all up with the dustpan and put everything away. And then she came out with our carpet sweeper. You know those super old fashioned non-electric “vacuums” that are just a stick and a vacuum head that picks stuff up by rolling? Well we have one, and its great for our living room carpet. Laela insisted she wanted to vacuum the carpet. So she did that, and then packed it up, and put it away.
Aaaaand onto the bedrooms! She pulled out our (kinda crappy but light and kid-friendly) vacuum from that same linen closet and confirmed that she could use it. I asked if she was suuure that she wanted to, and she nodded vigorously. So, of course I let her. I’m not going to argue with her when she wants to clean!
She vacuumed here and there in the bedrooms, lol! The whole operation was very much a “spot clean,” but any vacuuming she’s doing is more than I’m doing, clearly! She finished up what she wanted to do and coiled the cord back up nicely before putting it away and closing the closet up for the morning. She still had fifteen minutes to play! I told her again how much time she had and she was super thrilled.
Then she requested if she could always do some chores before she went to school. Um… yes. Yes you can. I can figure that out for you, my girl.
But first we have to figure out what made her actually eat breakfast at a good pace!
Suuuuuper proud of your beautiful work ethic this morning, Laela!