Joy in the Morning

My daily routine has been upturned, altered, disrupted. For the last three years, it’s primarily been my husband’s responsibility to get our daughter off to day care in the morning. I picked her up in the afternoon. That’s the way we rolled, unless Daddy was out of town, but recently Daddy’s erratic work schedule has Mommy (a.k.a. me) pulling both shifts.

It’s been a hard adjustment. I’m used to getting up and getting myself ready in utter silence, then pulling out of the garage with just enough minutes left to make it to work on time. But suddenly I have the pleasure of tantrums and mood swings in the morning. All from a pint-sized assailant. She’s not used to getting up as early as I do so she’s rather delirious and unreasonable when I turn on the lights and crank up Arthur on PBS.

She doesn’t want to wake up or get dressed. She’s never quite satisfied with the ensemble I’ve selected and very vocal about the matter. After a few weeks of foolishness I pushed her bedtime up, thinking if she was more rested, she’d be calmer. Although she woke up more easily, the wardrobe was still a problem. I’d find the outfits I selected tossed aside and her digging through her drawers for something else. So I just stopped trying to pick out her clothes for her. At first, I’ll admit, I fought it with statements like:

“No, you can’t wear that shirt, I already put this shirt out for you.”

“Baby, those shoes are not appropriate for April, you can only wear boots in the winter, it’s too hot for those now.”

And I’d win the little battle and lose the war as she squirmed, mumbled, grimaced and dragged her mommy-coordinated self sluggishly all the way downstairs, into the car and to the day care.

Then, one morning, I just gave in. I let my 3-year-old wear skinny jeans, furry snow boots and a light weight yellow blouse, accented with a faux fur-collared sweater.

The minute I said, “Fine what shoes do YOU want to wear?” Her face lit up and she picked out the boots and matching furry sweater. Who cares that it was 70 degrees that day? She beamed all the way to school. It was a victory.

Since then she’s been making her own wardrobe choices and it’s really very entertaining. Most days she wears lace church socks and her hair bows are misaligned, but she’s happy and I’m amused. Which means we both get a little joy in the morning.