There's Always Time For Coffee

Last Saturday I had an unusually bad morning.  When the kids woke at the Crack of Six I let them come snuggle in our bed and watch about an hour of TV.  Usually this tactic gets me a decent chunk of light sleep.  But last Saturday Quynh was having none of it.  While Tai sat and calmly devoured his allotted Screen Time, Quynh talked, wiggled, and kicked, and sat on my chest.  For the entire hour.  I should have just gotten up with them and saved the precious TV time for later in the day when I needed a break.  

So, somewhere around 7:15am, bleary-eyed, I stumbled into the kitchen to rustle up some breakfast.   After serving my kids, I scooped myself a large serving of what I believed to be vanilla Greek yogurt, topped it with granola and took a huge bite. 

Alas, it was not yogurt, but sour cream.

OK, that was horrifyingly gross, but I recovered quickly.  I simply dumped it out and started over with the actual Greek yogurt (that happened ot be in exactly the same shape, size and color contianer as the sour cream.) 

After breakfast the kids started in with, "Can you play with me? Can we do a puppet show?  Can we do an art project?"  Not having to be at Tai's swim class until 9am, I figured I'd take my coffee into the play room and spend some quality time with the munchkins.

I then proceeded to pour a full cup of coffee and immediately knock it off the counter onto my (wood) kitchen floor.  Tai came running in the from the playroom to, basically, point out that I had made a huge mess.  Thanks, I hadn't noticed.

After I cleaned up the mess and poured a fresh coffee, the kids and I managed to have a wonderful time playing together.  We built a zoo out of blocks and plastic animals, and then drew pictures of animals to hang on the wall.  I helped Tai use stencils to make a sign that said "Lions eat Zebras and Wildebeests."  All the while, Tai and Quynh happily shared their toys and refrained from yelling at or hitting each other.  It was lovely.

Until I looked at the clock.  8:52am.

Swim class is at 9am.

That's when I started yelling.  "Tai, we need to go to swim class RIGHT NOW!  Take off your shorts, put on your bathing suit, now go put on your crocs and wait for me by the door!"

Surprisingly he did not resist this abrupt end to our morning playtime, but did exactly as he was told.  I ran around the house, grabbing his towel and a change of clothes for him, shouting a reminder at Minh that he and Quynh were to take the cats to the vet in half-an-hour, and then actually took the time to stop and make myself a travel mug of coffee.

Yup, while my son was waiting obediently by the door I took the time to make sure I'd have coffee to sip while I watched him swim.  Then we breezed out the door a whole 4 minutes after I'd checked the clock.   Just as I pulled the garage door shut behind me I heard Quynh, still playing quietly in the playroom call out, "Mama?"

Too late, we were gone--on a mission to not miss more than 15 minutes of the 45-minute class we had paid for.  As we started down the street Tai commented, "Woah, Mama, you're driving FAST!"

Luckily, swim class is only about 7 minutes from home.  By 9:15 Tai was in the pool and I was taking my seat among the other parents.  There I sat, un-showered, teeth un-brushed, with no makeup on.  But coffee in hand.  I have my priorities straight.