Getting out the door

Some days we have one of those days. You know, the kind where nothing seems to go quite right?

Yesterday was one of those days for us.

First, Charlotte woke up screaming bloody murder at 1:30 in the morning. She didn't want to be alone in her room after that (I can't blame her, really) so I brought her into our bed. While she lay there quietly, I could tell she wasn't sleeping, so thus I couldn't go to sleep either. An hour and a half, I convinced her to go back into her bed and go to sleep so that I could get some sleep!

Then, of course, she was bright eyed and bushy tailed at 6:15. Really, she needs to cut out this "up before 7 am" business that she's been doing lately. I am SO not accustomed to it.

Given the string of early morning risings, she has been falling asleep in the car when we take a morning outing - killing her nap. So yesterday? I decide to hang close to home to avoid such a fiasco and put her down at her "normal" nap time.

Except by this time she was over-tired and slept for a full 20 minutes. Yeah for me.

We had a playgroup meetup arranged for 3:30. At 3:20, I thought, okay, just grab Charlotte's milk, a snack, put her in the car, and go. Right? Wrong. My Mom called. No biggie, I can multitask, right? Yes, but no-nap Charlotte doesn't liked to be multitasked. She wanted the bananna I was packing away for her snack. I consented - what's a coupleof minutes when you only have to go around the corner? She quickly ate half of it, put the other half in her mouth and spit it all over the floor. Add a few minutes for cleanup, and then I realized Charlotte wasn't wearing shoes. She runs away crying and then doesn't want to sit still while I put on her shoes. As I open the door, she sees the milk in my purse and pulls it out. I convince her to walk out the front door, which she does slowly, as she sips the milk. I open the car door and turn around to pick her up when she SPITS OUT ALL the milk she'd just sucked into her mouth. She was drenched. At that point, I almost decided it wasn't in the cards to leave the house, but decided that getting out was just what we needed.

So FINALLY, 15 minutes late, we get to the Jamba Juice/Starbucks at Westheimer and run in to grab a coffee and sit down outside with everyone else. 5 minutes later, I walk outside to find EVERYONE leaving, having decided that there is no good way to corral the kids outside near the parking lot. (DUH!)

If it hadn't been for a mom who decided to sit with me for a few minutes, the whole trip would have been a total loss.

All because, apparently, it takes 25 minutes to get one mom and one child out the door. No wonder my family of 8 never seemed to get anywhere on time when we were growing up.