The Time Wasting Twins

Now, does this fall under the "God has a sense of humour" banner, or is this more of the "iron sharpens iron" type of thing?

You, who know me well, know that I really hate being late for anything. For me, it just screams disrespect. Now, I've learned to give myself a little grace for things beyond my control - like "I was unaware that it had snowed the night before" kind of thing. But, generally, it totally stresses me out to even risk being late getting somewhere.

Enter my kids.

Now, every parent knows that you have to allow for extra time when you have kids. It just comes with the territory. But my kids seem to have a "special" ability to mess with time. And they each do it with a different style.

Kelvin, my sweet boy, is a dawdler. And not just your garden variety one, either. He is King Dawdler. (Apparently Jude has the queen...). I can send this kid upstairs and give him 10 minutes to get dressed (which should take about 2), and he will have barely started when I call up to tell him it's time to get his coat on for school. I've threatened to take him to school in his pyjamas, but that has had no effect, and Doug says I can't really do that one anyway. He also lags behind when walking home from school (unless he's racing with his friends), which is why I decided to keep him in the lunch program. Less nagging from me, more play time with his friends.

Matt, on the other hand, is a staller. He will come up with every excuse in the book (and some original ones) to put off doing something. And he will resort to crocodile tears and fits if need be. He was fighting me on doing his home reading the other day, when I discovered that the whining was no more than crocodile tears, as he found himself laughing when I lowered myself to mocking him. Yes, he had managed to take some of my dignity, but I found a way to engage him a bit more in the process. And you wouldn't believe the lengths he will go to in order to avoid getting in the bathtub...

*sigh*

What's a poor anal and compulsive mother to do?...

Update

Yeah, I know... not exactly the most creative title, but that's just the place I'm in.

School.

We had a meeting with Matt's principal. No teacher there, so I was not completely satisfied. Things were tense between his teacher and I for about a week, especially when I was asked not to come and volunteer in the class, but it feels a bit smoother now. Even the TAs didn't speak to me for the first week. I hope I didn't get them in trouble.

Doug was happy with the meeting, but I'm still not completely satisfied. I guess that's just life. I still feel the need to keep tabs on what's happening in the class. We did find out, though, that his teacher is not only new to special-ed, but is a first year teacher! I suppose I need to give her more slack for her sake, but really... Matt is now suffering for a year's worth of "lack of teaching" plus the learning curve for this teacher. So much for getting him into an established program!

Church.

For lack of a better word. We're kind of drifting a bit at the moment. It's been tough finding ways to get together with Rob and Jude. Mostly it's the "we've got sick kids" shuffle. I guess that's the drawback to a smaller group. So... I guess we're just trying to muddle our way through and make efforts at community any way we can. Although, I must admit I really enjoyed the pizza and conversation last night.

Personal Mass

One relatively bright spot at the moment. I've been losing steadily on this system, and I'm officially down about 22 lbs, and two pants sizes. I even had to go out and buy a new bathing suit today. I've gotten back on my treadmill five mornings a week, and I really enjoy hanging out on Monday nights. Seriously. I get to hang out with some of the most beautiful and strongest women I know. How did I ever get invited into that group? Not that I'm complaining...

In case you can't tell from the tone of this post, I'm in a bit of a "blah" state right now. Not fully sure why (although a mix-up in calculating my points today has added to it), but the week has been really full, the days all busy, and I'm just feeling spent on all fronts. Perhaps I should go put my kids to bed (an hour late) and cuddle up with my heating pad.

'Til later...