independent charlie

It's hard for us to get out of the door in the morning. Between being up in the night with Emmeline and going to bed way too late, I have a hard time getting up. We've trained the kids (pretty miraculously) to get out of their rooms only when there is an '8' at the front on their alarm clock. Hazel, our little rule follower, does a pretty good job at this. Emmeline and I usually wake up to Hazel yelling at the top of her lungs for Charlie to "GET BACK IN HERE!....THERE IS NOT AN 8 AT THE FRONT!!!." Charlie, meanwhile is doing his own thing (lately it's coloring on his forehead with markers). Anyway...the point is, we have a hard time getting going....and have been late to Joy School which doesn't start until 9:30. For crying out loud....that is late!

So, the other day I discovered that if I offer smarties then the kids will speedily get themselves dressed. Hazel does a good job dressing herself (though I usually don't like what she picks.....some version of comfy pants and mismatching shirts). Charlie just gets it all wrong. I mean, look at this outfit. Shoes on the wrong feet, pants on backwards (with belt sticking out the back), shirt on inside out and backwards, sweatshirt on upside-down and inside out. The kid has a 50/50 chance of getting it right with each item.....it's uncanny that he gets it all wrong....all the time. He must just like to be different.

So, am I expecting too much of this little just barely three year old of mine? I think I might be. The other night he threw up in the night. He came and got me and we fixed him all up, changed his sheets, gave him a drink etc. I fetched a bowl from the kitchen and told him that if he needed to throw up again he should do it in the bowl. I left and as I was laying in bed feeding Emmeline I heard his door open, the toilet lid go up, the water run and his door close again. I got up to see what he had been up to and found the bowl on the ground outside his shut door with traces of vomit in it. He was back snuggled in his bed, asleep. He had gotten up, vomited, taken it to the bathroom, flushed it down the toilet, washed out the bowl and gone back to bed. Poor little guy. I expect a lot of him....i need to ease up. He just turned three for crying out loud!