Definately, Definately Not My Pants...Definately.

I can't speak for all parents, but the majority of parents thrive on routine. Not all of us have a set schedule that we never deviate from, but we at least have a routine. We do everything in a certain order everyday. It helps a lot, and kids usually love it. Unfortunately, sometimes they love it a little too much and our routine backfires.

A few days ago, a letter was sent home from Caleb's school saying that today the kids would be allowed to wear jeans and Phillies gear, or at least red or white shirts. It's awesome to know the school supports the Phils as much as we do, so I'm loving this. The problem is, Caleb is used to wearing his uniform every day. Each morning he has two options, khakis and a blue shirt, or blue pants and a white shirt. It makes it really easy to decide what he's wearing, and I never have to worry how he's going to look if he wants to dress himself.

Apparently, however, Caleb thinks that the only way he can go to school is if he's wearing his uniform. So this morning when I put him in jeans and a Phillies shirt, he looked at me with utter disgust and says, "But Mommy, I need my new pants." I tried to explain that the school sent home a note saying they were allowed to wear this today. Daddy tried to explain that it was a special day and he was allowed to wear them. We told him everyone else would be wearing similar clothes too. It didn't matter to Caleb. He was grumpy all morning and wouldn't even give me a kiss before he got on the bus. He just couldn't break from normal routine. To quote a good movie, "Talk about anal. He must have been toilet trained at gunpoint."

So how do rid ourselves of the routine monster? Just remember it's good to have a routine. But perhaps sometimes we should remember to be a little spontaneous. Spice things up and teach our kids how to go with the flow. Rolling with the punches is a great characteristic to have, so let's remember to teach our kids that too.

You've Thrown Off My Groove

I don't know about everyone, but I thrive on routine. Not a schedule, a routine. I don't do the same things at the same time everyday, but I usually try to do things in the same order. I get in my little groove, and I get things done. I can't stand it, when my routine gets thrown off, and the littlest things are usually what does it. Obviously the big things like a new baby or a vacation would change things up a bit, but you would be surprised at how little things throw me off.
If you want me to be coherent in the morning, I have to have my coffee. When I go to make it, if the trash can is full and I have to change the trash bag before I can throw out the old grounds, it throws me off. It's usually those days that nothing goes right, and I have to do six things just before I can do the one thing I needed to do in the first place.
Now there's a few things I can do here: Check the trash at night and change it before I go to bed; make the coffee before I go to bed; and if something small like that happens, not let it affect my mood. The first and second things would make the third unnecessary. But my ADD and I sometimes...ok most of the time we forget. So that leaves me with the third thing.
Every day, little by little, I learn that I have control over the way I act. Some days I'm better at it than others, but I'm still learning, and I will be until the day I die. It really isn't the end of the world that my groove was thrown off, I just have to realize that.
Are there things in life that you still need to learn?