LoveBug takes after me and is not a morning person! It’s just another reason that I am so thankful that we homeschool. I can’t imagine how rough her day would be if I had to have her up, dressed, fed and dropped off somewhere before 8! Honestly, I’m also thankful that I don’t have to get out of bed early enough to do all that.
I love being able to set our own schedule, and keep it flexible enough for her needs. She gets up at 8:00 every day except Sunday when we have to get up a bit earlier to make it to church on time. If she wakes up between 7-8, she turns on her little light and reads in her bed for a while. At 8, she comes out to say good morning and we get our good morning hugs & kisses. We usually have to ask for them, but she complies.
Then, we remind her to go to the bathroom and off she goes. She is like a camel and can go for ages without going to the bathroom, so we have to make remind her to go first thing in the morning, before rest time, and before bed. She takes her time in the bathroom, getting distracted by noticing herself in the mirror, or any number of other things. A good 10 minutes later, she’s out.
At this point, we eat breakfast because she does much better doing her morning chores after getting a little fuel in her body. If we are doing great, we can be eating by 8:30, sometimes 8:45.
After breakfast, is morning chore time! She is responsible for getting dressed, brushing her teeth, making her bed, and feeding the cat. These chores take anywhere from 10 minutes to 30, sometimes 45, depending on how the choosing panties & clothes goes today.
There are days that we zoom through everything and can be sitting at the table ready to do schoolwork by 9. Those days are rare. Then, there are days like today. She’s had a very busy weekend at the grandparents’ house and celebrating Mother’s Day. So today, her motor is running extremely low. It would take hurculean efforts to get us ready to go by 10:00. Fortunately, we are having an easy morning with no where to go until this afternoon.
What does it look like for her to have a low motor?
First thing we notice is that her light isn’t on before 8. That tells me that she slept in, and hasn’t had her slow-wake-up reading time. Next, she comes stumbling out of her bedroom with eyes still half shut, and complaining about some ache or pain. Today is was that her right eye hurt, and her right leg was “hurting and feels sleepy”. I gave her kisses for the eye, and a massage followed by joint compressions for the leg. Her muscles are so tired, she can hardly walk. Her voice sounds almost whiny, but I can tell it’s the tired whiny, not the “not-getting-my-way” whiny, so I can tolerate it. Besides, she isn’t saying much, which in itself is just another clue she’s running on a low motor.
A quick easy breakfast of a favorite all-natural cereal helps get her energy level high enough that I could have her do some light bouncing on the trampoline to wake up her body. Next, I get her dressed in her favorite comfy sweats (yes, it is Texas, and almost summer, but her cold-natured body doesn’t care) to keep the tactile issues to a minimum, and have her brush her teeth to help her oral sensation.
At this point she’s feeling a bit better, so just a couple more steps to go. I make her a large cup of applesauce for her to drink through a straw (oral), while sitting on the sofa watching an episode of Blue’s Clues to finish waking up.
Within seconds of finishing the applesauce, she is talking & moving with much more energy. Her brain is alert and she’s feeling better.
Today, it took her 1.5 hours to go from getting up to feeling ready to start the day. Not too bad, actually. Now, that she’s feeling better and can handle more, I can have her go make her bed and get her hair brushed.
No schoolwork today, but we are going to work on purging some books and stuffed animals in preparation for a garage sale in a few weeks. We’ll see how that goes! My goal is to convince her to let me buy her a few more of these, in exchange for giving up some of the stuffed animals that take up WAY too much space! I LOVE the little hard animals because we can use them in sensory boxes, or doing math skills too! Multi-purpose!
Picture: A few months ago, when Bug let me rock her all the way to sleep. Bliss!
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." ~ Matt 11: 28-30
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