Friday, February 3, 2012

Three's a Crowd

Every morning the three littlest kidlets eventually end up crawling into bed with me. Our morning cuddle sessions usually start out with us groggily talking about our plans for the day or what dreams we had and generally end in rambuncious tickle wars. It all sounds like an ideal start to the day.

The Problem:

Each of them wants to be right beside me. I only have two sides. This inevitably leads to one person feeling left out and "less loved". Sometimes they rotate, sometimes I stack Abbie on top of me so the other two each get a side, but usually something goes wrong and one child ends up in a fit of despair.

This morning was no exception.

Grace was the first little interloper of the morning but after a few minutes needed to go to the bathroom. As she slipped out from the covers she requested that I save "her spot". Within a nanosecond, I heard other little footsteps heading my way and a little wave of dread flitted through me - our morning routine had begun. Somehow we managed to get all settled and games of "give me 5, on the side, cut the pickle..." spontaneously errupted. With the PD day stretching out before us we were in no hurry to abandon the cozy nest we had settled into. However, Isaac made one fatal error. He reached over the side of the bed and toppled out onto his head. Grace seized the opportunity to slip quickly into the coveted spot left behind. Although Isaac tried to force her out, he had no luck removing her without resorting to violence. As his frustration and feelings of rejection spilled out, he stormed away stamping, yelling and crying that I love everyone more than him. Gah!

I need to figure out a new morning routine...

We've had breakfast, the morning jobs are mostly complete and now the kids are working away on various things (some are writing their orals, one is throwing in firewood, another is playing the piano). Calm is restored once more. However, I am enough of a seasoned professional in this particular job to know that the calm probably won't last as long as it will take me to finish typing this sentence. Here's to another day....

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