Only 179 Days To Go

I guess it would be about the second day of school when I realize we have to do this thing for 179 more days. Don't get me wrong, it's exciting sending your kids off to school to be home ALONE for hours for the first time ever in your life. Or at least the first time in approximately 11 years. (Ok, that may be a bit of an exaggeration but you get the picture.) Hey wait, that's not really an exaggeration. To be home alone for six straight hours could only possible happen if my entire family left town without me and that has never happened. Anyway, what for the love of God was I talking about? Oh yeah...This morning I remembered it's NOT exciting getting them up in the morning and on the bus. It's even less exciting now that I'm doing it in triplet.

Everyone got up at 7am. More or less. Maya more, Eva and Isaac less. It was 7:10am when I went to extract Isaac from his bed that I realized we have another Eva on our hands. He was understandably exhausted after his first half-day of school. I stared at him for a minute sleeping so soundly and was wondering if I was going to have to resuscitate him he was so asleep. Tonight I'm thinking I'll have him in bed by 7:30pm. The promise of sausage and syrup got his eyes open with just a little bit of (very familiar) whining. Ok, maybe 7:00pm. It took him 45 minutes to eat his breakfast. By Thursday we'll be getting up at 6:30am and going to sleep at 5:30pm.

The girls were their usually squirrelly selves. If they just did it - got up and got dressed and ate their breakfasts, they could get up and out of the house in 30 minutes. But being part rodent instills the need to flop on their beds in only their skivvies and flop on each other for 30 minutes every morning. Fortunately Isaac was in the family room getting dressed so he wasn't involved in this morning's flopping. Flopping about is contagious you know, I'll have to watch out for that.

And soon there will be homework. Forget soon, we'll probably have homework tonight. Doing homework with Eva always brings me to my knees. It's a reminder to me of why people drink and smoke. I'd be happy with just one vice every night we have to do homework together. A little heavy drinking one night and heavy smoking the other. You know, the thought occurred to me this morning that at the end of this year I'm just going to ask the principal "Who gives the least homework? We'd like that teacher next year please." Eva never gets that teacher. I want that teacher damn it.