This week I learned that no matter what I do, I am destined to be late. My mother used to joke when I was growing up that she was always a day late and a dollar short because she was perpetually late. I was determined to be a timely person, but when I became a mom I discovered that I inherited the dreaded late gene.
For example, I am almost ALWAYS late dropping my daughter off at school. I do not know why it is any harder to get there at 9am than it is to get there at 9:10. My older kids get on the bus at 8am. I have AN HOUR to get myself and my 3-year old out the door. WHY is that so hard?
One morning last week I got an email from my friend girlymama at about 8am saying that she was going to be near the Panera and did I want to meet up for carbs and coffee? Well of course I did! I told her I would drop R at school at 9am and be at Panera by 9:30. Knowing I didn’t want to be late, I left the computer and began to get ready right away. At 8:45 I was all ready, and the only thing left was to help R get her shoes and socks on. School is 5 minutes away. I was on a roll!
I should have known it was too easy. No sooner did I get her shoes and socks on her than she started throwing a massive fit. Her socks didn’t feel right. We’ve discussed this here on ye ole blawg before. It’s one of her many adorable quirks. I choose to believe it just adds to her charm. Ahem.
I calmly told her that if she didn’t like the socks (I had put them on carefully, knowing how she likes them) that she could go find another pair and do it herself (she is perfectly capable; she often does it herself — when the stars are aligned and the mood strikes.) She continued to wail and scream. I offered to help, and she just kicked and thrashed. I told her she was going to be late for her Valentine’s Day party. That just made her scream louder. It was a delightful way to start the day.
Sure, I could have bodily thrown her into her car seat and been on our not-so-merry way, but I chose to take the more passive route. I sat down at the computer and started answering emails and waited for the tantrum to blow over. It always does. Eventually she went upstairs and put on a different pair of socks, her shoes, and came back down and told me she was ready to go. Unfortunately by then it was 9:10. Panera is 20 minutes away, and I still had to take her to school.
Fortunately for me, girlymama has 3 kids under 6 and understands all too well how a perfectly planned evacuation can go terribly wrong when a 3-year-old’s involved. She was quite understanding when I called and informed her I would be 15 minutes late. I guess I’m destined to be a day late and a dollar short!
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SO! Now I want to know what YOU learned this week. Here are the carnival rules.
1. Any time this week, publish your What I Learned This Week post on your blog. (It can be one sentence. It can be several paragraphs. It can be a list. It can be serious. It can be silly. It can be thoughtful and profound. It can be sarcastic. It can be sentimental. It can be ANYTHING that you learned as long as it is of a family friendly nature.)
2. Within that post, please mention the What I Learned This Week carnival and link to this post.
3. Then link up with the Mr. Linky form down below. (Please only link if you have written a What I Learned This Week post. And please link directly to the carnival post, not the main page of your blog. And finally, please do not put a Mr. Linky on your post. THANKS!)
4. Then visit the other participants and see what they learned this week. And comment, comment, comment! Because we ALL love comments.
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This week’s carnival is sponsored by allaboutcute.com. Visit allaboutcute.com right now for their spectacular Orla Kiely Fall sale where silk tops, skirts and dresses are at 90% off retail. PLUS you can save an additional $20 off your order with the coupon code sanfrancisco. Simply enter the code as you check-out. And gets even better than that because two of this week’s participants will win 2 of these highly cute Orla Kiely mugs, part of the new Orla Kiely dishes that are now available at Target. I saw them last week, and they are precious. But I wouldn’t expect anything less from Orla Kiely.
Alrightythen. Ready, Set, GO!
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Great picture of you and B. by the way! Have a good day.
I HATE to be late, but baby #4 has sealed the deal! We are late EVERYWHERE! Even if I get up at 5 a.m. People just expect it from us anymore, last year…we were even late to my daughter’s own birthday party!
Now that my kids are a little older, i am not as late as I used to be. So it does get better!
I admire your passive choice – I am not sure I could have, but then would have been annoyed with myself the whole day for being so impatient! I have joined in with this carnival for the first time – great idea.
Oh, I feel you. I am ALWAYS late. Unfortunately, I can’t blame it on anyone but myself. I try to get way to much done in too little time and end up running around like a crazy woman to get anywhere on time.
I know these tantrums all to well and waiting them out is the only way to keep YOUR sanity!
Love those mugs – I got the over the door shoe holder for my gloves and hats (thank you) in that same pattern! I’ll be posting it later this week. So, cute.
ahhh, I remember those days….it DOES get better, I promise!!
~TidyMom
Did they open a new Panera near you? I’m curious of course about awesome new developments in my former town. What’s the status with that Providence Town Center place? My new house (which you should come visit sometime) is less than 2 miles down one continuous street from a Panera, and a Starbucks, and a Target…the list goes on. Needless to say, after I drop my kids at school (which I should walk to) I go for carbs and coffee a LOT.
You can overcome this! You do not have to be late. This is kind of a pet peeve with me, so I am very anal about it. We are rarely late anywhere. I just plan to leave 30 minutes earlier than is really necessary, so that we have time for tantrums, dirty diapers, traffic, whatever. We live one mile from our church and I insist on leaving 30 minutes before Mass starts. We are always the first people there that don’t have a specific reason for being early. It is a little crazy, but we are never late.
And you handled your daughter much better than I would have. I think I would have put her in the car and thrown a pair of socks at her and told her to fix it herself if it was so bad. Not very nice, I know.
Nicole, LOL. There are days I would have done that.
As far as being late, I know it can be overcome. My husband’s family is NEVER late. They are usually 15 minutes early to everything. Needless to say, it drives my husband NUTS that I’m always late. I just try to do too much — one more thing, one more thing.
I also hate waiting on people, so I hate being early. So that means I make them wait on me. I’m a gem, aren’t I?
Thank you, TidyMom and Kellie for assuring me it does get better.
Well, let’s see…I don’t have an excuse for being late everywhere I go. My youngest is 14 and I am the one who can’t get up and ready without rushing and driving at break neck speeds to get him to school before the tardy bell. Hmmmmmm….well, my daddy always said that my mom and I would both be late to our own funerals. I guess, that sums it up. I’m right there with you!
Happy Tuesday!
I’m destined to be late, too. It happened a lot before I had a baby, but now it’s just a given. I cannot get to work before 8:03 am. WHY? It’s THREE minutes!! But I just can’t do it!
I’m usually late, too! It is hard to get all of the kids ready and get out the door!
All my life I’ve been a day late and a dollar short. Mostly because I am just NOT a morning person. Oh, I’ve tried to be one, but a zebra must be a zebra and not try to be a leopard. On occasions that don’t involve morningness, it’s DULLER’s (dh) fault. He’ll be late for his own funeral. No matter how early a start he gets, he will, inevitably, be late. He’s the only man I know who can kill 2 hours showering, shaving and otherwise primping before selecting his attire. Somewhere, way back in the darker shades of his grey matter, there’s an assurance that he has plenty of time. So, the more he has, the more he takes. I’ve learned (greatly prior to this week) to let nature take its course. Nagging… er, that is to say, gentle reminders only prolong the agony.
Have a JESUS-filled day! ^i^
I had a professor in college who’s mantra was:
To be early is to be on time.
To be on time is to be late.
To be late is to be dead.
I made a promise to myself when I graduated to live every day to spite her mantra. I enjoy being on time, or as she claimed, late. And I am living proof that death is not the only reason for lateness. I know that’s missing the point, but when you hear someone repeat those lines thousands of times to every single person who walked into the room… well, you get the idea.
People who live to punch a clock take life way to seriously.
I enjoyed reading your what I learned this week. Since I had my 3rd kid I can’t get anywhere on time anymore. My 4 year old has the sock issue. I couldn’t help but laugh. It sounded like my life most days.
I’m getting better about this. But I still have my moments when I’m running behind.
Thanks for hosting this! Found you on twitter.
It IS hard to get places on time when you throw in the “preschooler factor”. I attended an amazing event last week and learned/was reminded of how important it is to dream.
ALWAYS late.
(It’s fashionable, you know.)
I hate to be late, and yet I frequently am. I hope it does get better as the kids get older!
I don’t like to be late. It stresses me out so I always pad on an extra 15 minutes to get out the door. I’m a freak like that.
I have to say that I’m just the opposite. I can’t stand being late anywhere. I’m really weird that way. I usually am about 15 minutes early to everything. Crazy of me, I know. I actually set my clocks ahead so I’m always thinking it is later than it really is.
I tried setting my clocks ahead, but I found myself just calculating the difference. I’d be all, Okay, I still have 5 minutes. That clock is fast. LOL! I’m hopeless.
That was liberating! Thanks for the idea…
I’m right along with you. I’m hardly ever on time to anything these days! Even when I do leave early.