Since the day they were born, we’ve strived to implement some sort of a routine. It’s every mother’s dream really. The goal? To better help us plan our glamourous days of managing the household and the errands that come along with it.  

But what happens when something throws it off?  No, I’m not talking about a few hours off, I’m talking missed nap, lots of activity and a full day on the go kind of “off.” Allow me to recount one such occasion and you’ll quickly learn why this Mommy ain’t messin’ with the routine anymore.

It started off as a typical Saturday.  The kids were up at 7:00am, we were up at 7:01am.  You get the picture.  This 3rd class citizen of the household, ie. me, bathed my two monkeys in the kids bathroom, while my not so better half enjoyed his never-ending child-free escape into the ensuite shower. Oh sorry, is my jealousy that apparent? Then I headed downstairs to prepare breakfast for all, followed by a dash upstairs for my 5 min shower and 2 mins of grooming.  Wow!  It’s so nice to gain those extra 2 mins on the weekends.  Then we were off for groceries, followed by my toddler’s swimming lessons.

Then we headed out for brunch.  Things were still on track as my daughter was well behaved and my son was but a tad squirmy, but far from fussy.  A quick potty request at the end of the meal and then it all went downhill from there… 

First my daughter got her fingers stuck in the bathroom door and screamed bloody murder.  Her poor little cries resonated throughout the restaurant.  After the kitchen staff iced her little hand, we calmed her down and headed downtown to a specialty market for some hard to find spices and my favorite organic granola.  I realize that’s a bit high maintenance, but I’m ever so slightly addicted to the stuff and they only sell it there. Plus, my daughter loves it too! Reason enough to go, indeed.  She dug through every self-serve bin, sampling just about everything or throwing it on the floor when she didn’t like it.  Finally, we had to carry her to keep her from making any further mess.  Naptime is 2pm, it was now 3pm…her patience was fading and so was ours.  We consoled ourselves with the thought that she would surely sleep in the car on the way home, but no…

Once home, it was 4:30pm and she was extra wired.  We had gone into danger mode, no hope of slumber and high strung toddler was just around the bend.  We figured at this point, it was best to just keep her up and decided to eat out.  So we headed to an Ethiopian restaurant.  We thought it would be fun for her, considering that you get to eat the meal with your hands instead of utensils.  Is that not every toddler’s dream?  We could not have been more wrong. Not only did this turn out to be a horribly bad idea, it literally bordered on disaster.  She hated everything except the bread.  I had to forcefeed her 8 pieces of meat (yup, that’s all she would eat) and then she somehow fell off her chair taking a bowl of chickpea puree right along with her.  It showered the table, the floor, the neighboring table, her hair and her clothes.  Although I tried to keep a brave face, by this point, the entire restaurant was oggling at the spectacle while my daughter sat sideways on the floor screaming and crying.  She was fine but embarassed that she fell.  After cleaning up the mess as best I could with my baby wipes, I then proceeded to pick embedded chickpea mush from each of her ringlets.  Finally, we had to put her in a highchair where she went from episodes of fatigue-induced incoherence to humoristic outbursts.  You know, sticking her tongue out at other diners, pretending to be a squirrel and imitating me.  She would look at me and say ” relax Mama, just calm down…

r-e-l-a-x”  The bill couldn’t have come fast enough.  We left a 30% tip and apologized to the owner.  It was the least we could do, as I’m quite certain that they will have to have their carpeted floors professionally cleaned.  Come to think of it though, is it really wise for a restaurant to have carpeted floors?  But I digress…

Once we loaded everyone up into the car, she soon fell asleep.  We even successfully transferred her to her bed.  Wow - she should be out for thr night for sure, right?  WRONG, oh so wrong.  Nope, she woke up at 3am and asked to come in our bed for 5 mins of cuddletime.  Then my husband put her back to bed only to have her re-emerge at 5am. 

Routines rock baby, so don’t mess with them.  Ladies, let this be your lesson.  Don’t let this happen to you! : )

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