The Morning Routine....

As many parents know, routine is important to kids. Jackson is no exception.

Each morning, I put a frozen waffle in the toaster and then go get Jackson. I have learned that having the waffle ready to go right as Jackson gets in his high chair is important. If a waffle is not ready, the questioning about whether or not he is going to have a waffle goes on the entire time the waffle is “cooking”.

Jackson will typically wake up when I open his door, if he isn't awake already. His first words each day are, "Me have waffle?" I say that he will have a waffle, but that we need to get dressed first. Getting dressed can be seen as an impediment to eating waffles or it can be strangely exciting. Either way, he requests to wear his "hatar shirt". The hatar shirt is an orange shirt with a guitar on it and really should be worn everyday. 6 of the 7 days, the hatar shirt is dirty and just to make sure that I will wash it; Jackson asks if I will wash it. Once we have clarified the laundry status of the hatar shirt, the selection of jeans or sweatpants is made and which shirt to wear. The instant he is dressed, he makes the short run to the pantry to pick something out to eat, which is usually a "froot bedder" (a fruit leather to untrained ears). Recently "froot snax" have replaced froot bedders, but one is always needed for breakfast.

Once strapped into his high chair, another query into waffles is made at which point I hand him the waffle. There is, of course, concern if the waffle is too hot and I assure him that it is not too hot. A cup of "milt" and he is ready to commence eating and humming. Jackson will take a break from eating and humming to ask for "Muffin Man" which is a song on a CD filled with nursery songs. We then talk about what is coming up and generally miss all of the Muffin Man song. After Jackson has eaten everything and usually something more, he proclaims "Me all done" which will typically follow a few more hand full of veggie chips, Craisins, raisins or froot snax.

At this point, everyone is dressed and ready to say bye bye to Momma. With some convincing he will go and give Momma a hug. As quickly as he can squirm away, he runs out to the entry way and tries to engage "his Sunshine" by waving his arms near it. At this point, I wander over and actually turn on his Sunshine, a motion activated animated sunflower that sings "You Are My Sunshine". We listen to that a few times over while I get his boots on. While getting his "puffy coat" he will run over to "his mat" where he needs to stand while Jamie takes his snowy boots and mittens off after daycare.

Peppered throughout the whole morning process, there is debate whether I will be taking him to daycare or if Momma will be taking him to daycare.

"Dadda, you take me day kair?"
"Yep."
"Momma pick me up?"
"Yep, Momma will pick you up."

Before we can walk out the door, I will usually have to tell Jackson that we won't be able to bring whatever thing he is holding to daycare because we don't want to lose it. There is then a discussion over which car we are taking.

"We take bid ban?"
"No, we are taking my car today."
"Dis car? Daddas car?"
"Yep."

Finally, we end up in the car and are ready to go. We then say goodbye to his bike as we backup out of the garage. Sometimes the house gets a goodbye as we drive away, but many times there are more pressing issues like which way we are going or “what that man doing?”

On our drive to daycare we “go down dat yamp” and drive by the “mallmerica” (Mall of America) where apparently there is a moose, the city bus takes him there “nother day” and saw the “nut packer” (The Nut Cracker). We again talk about “what that man doing” and when I explain that all the people on the road are driving Jackson asks me “what you doing?” Occasionally, he will ask if “that man dangeus?” to which I explain that no one is being dangerous but you have to watch out thinking that a fear of cars isn’t the worst thing. Continuing north, we pass by the “air porkt” where air planes are “wandin”.

The best part is that once we are past these landmarks that are in my opinion, especially the Mall of America, aren’t exactly what I want my child to be excited about is beautiful Lake Nokomis. Jackson is continually unimpressed by the lake and the fact that we are driving on a bridge that literally goes over the lake. I point out how pretty the lake is and whatever is happening to the lake to sheer silence. The car ride from the air porkt to daycare is usually pretty quiet.

The adventure ends when we pull into the parking lot of daycare, which Jackson spotted a block or so before we got there. As we get out of the car, there is usually some animal the needs to be looked at, a dog, a bird or a squirrel. We then make the long, slow walk into daycare. He makes a bee line to the receptionist to say “Hi.” The receptionist is a sweet, older woman that has three sons of her own and always has something good to say to Jackson. I then suggest we go see who is already there.

Jackson bangs on the door to daycare until Mrs. Kay comes to open it. Jackson runs in and gives Mrs. Kay a big huge and the day can finally begin for Jackson. Once the coat and boots are off, Jackson runs off to play. He can sometimes be distracted from what he is about to do to say goodbye to me and on the rare occasion I get a hug before I go.

Wait 23 hours and repeat.