A case of the Mondays.

This morning was like every Monday morning in our house. I normally wake up early to avoid the usual stress of the daily morning chaos. I take care of the dog, get myself ready, have a couple of cups of coffee, make lunches and check my email. These tasks usually go off without a hitch. My routine is pretty well set. I am ready to go by 8am every morning. And then I wake up my son.

My grumpy little man has never done mornings very well. It almost makes me laugh at just how grumpy he can be. Keeping a sense of humor is really the only way I can survive this daily ritual.

This morning was no different. In fact, it was a truly classic Monday morning. Alex woke up on his own today, which was a miracle in itself. But he only came downstairs to find out why the dog was barking. He was groggy and miserable. And then he started to cry because I told him I was just going upstairs to get him up. He thought he had more time to sleep. Nope. So back up he went, he crawled back into bed, and refused to get up. I followed, to make sure he realized it really was time to get ready for school. Then I left. A few minutes later I heard noise. Thankfully he was getting himself dressed.

He emerged downstairs and plopped himself down on the couch. He curled up into some blankets. He refused breakfast. It was 8:20.

I finished getting his bag packed. I took the dog out one more time. Last night, I forgot to put the car back in the garage, so it was covered with a nice coating of ice. So I got the car warming up and cleared of ice. I go back in the house around 8:30 to see how Alex's progress is going. He announced that he had to use the bathroom. The kind where you have to hang out for awhile and read a book. Great. I gave him 5 minutes. We usually leave the house around 8:40, so he had a few minutes. Knowing he moves at a snails pace, I plan for such things. At 8:44, we're finally departing the house.

I get myself into the car and look over at Alex as he's playing with the tree in the front yard. He's taking the frozen berries off of some of the twigs. I have no idea what he is doing and roll down my window to inquire. He had suddenly remembered that he needed arms for the snowman building contest at school. Huh? Fine time to remember that tidbit of information! So I jump out of the car to help. Otherwise, he'd be there forever trying to rip off perfectly good tree limbs from my only tree. There is probably a good foot of snow in the yard, a lot of it melted over the weekend, so it was wet, icy and very cold on my feet. Which had otherwise been warm and dry. I grabbed a couple of small branches, making sure to remove any frozen berries. I give Alex the "snowmen arms" and we jump in the car. We drive to the bus stop. As he gets out of the car, I notice that he left the tree limbs on the back seat. I asked him why he wasn't taking them with him. "Oh, the contest isn't until tomorrow. I don't need them today."

Perfect.