More spectacles

Wherever we go, it's not usually quietly. Yesterday morning, getting Lily up and ready for school.. was.. beyond awful.

Tough morning. Really, really tough. The worst school morning so far. Don't know what else to say about it.. #defiance
— Laura (@teamtantrum) December 19, 2012

She hadn't gotten enough sleep, so she didn't want to get out of bed. But unless she's really sick- she needs to go to school, because we both need the break from each other. There was screaming and whining- and all clothes choices were completely unacceptable. She wasn't screaming that she didn't want to go- she was just screaming.. so I pushed on.

There were a few times I had to walk away from her in order not to completely flip my shit. After about an hour of it- and over half an hour late for school, Jason called me. His helpful advice was to just not take her, but when she's already totally drained everything out of me by 9am..? She's going to school! I told him what was happening, that "I need to g-e-t a-w-a-y from her," and hung up.

I took a deep breath, adopted a drastically different approach, and 20 minutes later we were on our way to school- really not knowing how she would be at school, but I had a feeling..

She would have a really good day. And she did. Her teacher could barely contain herself telling me that Lily was the line-leader when the kids went outside. (Which apparently is reserved for the best-behaved, most cooperate child at the moment.) It was a first for Lily.

And then there was today. Lily and I had an appointment that we needed to be 15 minutes early for. Not surprisingly, 15 minutes before the appointment we were still at home. Aaand we were late even if we weren't supposed to be there early. Because, that's just what we do.

Then, I cut my finger on their front door. At first, it seemed like just a tiny scratch. But by the time we got up to the window to check-in I could see it wasn't. Oh hello, we're really late and could I have a band-aid because I just sliced my finger open on your door. Lily hid her face in her hands when she saw the blood running down into my palm. Another super-successful impression made.