Late to School

My chronic lateness is either genetic or contagious. The girls have taken on a very relaxed attitude about getting ready for school. Nine o clock usually arrives to me on the stairs screaming at the girls to get some clothes on we are leaving. If even I can beat them ready, with the boys, that is pretty bad. I admit that sometimes it is my fault we don't leave on time but there is an awful lot of people in their underwear wondering what to wear at 8:55. The school has this very lax policy of "talking things out" (even fights on the playground) with no real consequences or phone calls home. So when I saw the principal at the Halloween party, I made sure he knew who I was and who my kids were and that I would like phone calls home to be made and I'm ok with consequences for tardiness. I get the feeling there is a lot of "now Jimmy don't punch Sam in the face, run along now" at the school. That being said, I now have to make extra sure I am not the reason for their tardiness just in case there ever is a consequence.

So now our mornings look like this. Celeste and I throw the strollers over the gate (ok its mostly Celeste) and as soon as the girls turn up we tell them to run! and we'll keep up. Bad weather or extreme lateness means I drive. Our school has this policy that we all wait in a tidy little line and wait for the lady to open the door and let your kid out. While I appreciate the reasons for this idea, when kids are making it by the very skin of their teeth, they need to get out now, not in 5 minutes when its our turn. So I fly into the parking lot, slam the brakes at the beginning so as not to disrupt the line or run over a kid. The girls are ready for "catapult" as we call it, then I yell GO! GO! GO! like a Navy Seals mission leader as they throw open the door. They chuck their backpacks on the grass then jump after them like their parachuting. Between my yells of GOGOGO, I hear the sound of slews of empty Diet Pepsi's hitting the ground, as the girls jump for it. I'd love to know what the door opening lady thinks of me as I fly around the line leaving the door openers in my path. One more day of promptness under our belts.