Morning Madness

I don’t know if it’s the same for parents of biological children, but I have a very clear memory of when my house was just me and the critters. This came to mind last night when the speech therapist was over and ended her session in a tickling wrestling match with the little ones while Primero sang loudly to the music only he could hear in his headphones and Esperanza, who was visiting, laughed at something on her phone. The noise level in the house went up another decibel or two when the dogs started getting riled up because of the kids being excited and added their shrill barks to the squeals of glee. Like the flashback in a movie, I was transported to a time when it was just me in the house and the only noise was from the TV or radio. The house was in order, neat and tidy, and I had a simple and calm evening routine. I snapped back into the present racket in time to break up a fight between the dogs and start calming down the hyper little ones.

 

I don’t often think about my time waiting for a placement, but when I do I remember the silence. Sure, now that the house is NEVER quiet I sometimes with for a little silence, but mostly I remember that time as lonely. The only part I long for from my pre-child times is the simplistic mornings I had just getting myself ready for work. For one, I didn’t have to get up nearly as early. I could put on music I liked and wake up slowly to a hot cup of coffee. I could spend as long as I needed in the bathroom, getting my hair just right and adding that extra coat of mascara to my lashes. Compared to mornings like this morning, it was such a luxury to have only myself to get ready. Now, I get up early so I can get myself breakfast and start getting myself ready before I have to wake Chica Marie. Love Bug usually wakes up on his own and demands I put SpongeBob on the TV. Once Chica Marie is dressed and taking her meds, I get Love Bug changed so after they can brush their teeth together and I can fix their hair. I try to do Chica Marie’s hair every other day, so the hairstyle should last two days. Chica Marie won’t keep the wrap on her head at night and can’t keep her hands out of her hair, so often her hair gets messy and requires fixing, which takes time. Love Bug needed to have his diaper changed again this morning and it was raining, which lead us to just dropping Chica Marie at school and not walking in with her because we were running late. I barely had time to slap some color on my face, run some gel through my hair and dash out the door. I long for those uncomplicated mornings before kids!