Looks like we made it...

Well the good news is we made it to the end of the first week of term more or less intact. Well, DS2 managed to throw himself down a couple of stairs tonight before DS1 caught him, but that only caused a small nosebleed - I'm hoping this will teach him to be more careful on the stairs, but it didn't work last time. He only seems to fall when we're on the stairs watching him - I think he likes to see us panic.


Aside from that, we slowly fell into our usual school time routine this week, which consists of

Step 1: DS2 wakes up, has his feed, eventually settles and just as I'm drifting off the alarm goes to get up. This wakes DS2 up again and once he's up, he's moving, escaping, chucking things over the side of the cot, crawling off the bed (the joys of bedside cots). I reluctantly drag myself out of bed, and then...

Step 2: I face the decision To wake DS1 or not to wake DS1?
The Pros of waking:
 - He will have a chance to wake up a bit before he has to do anything while I have a shower
 - DS2 will be entertained by his brother being awake
 - He may be awake enough to stop DS2 doing any major damage/climbing the cabin bed ladder
 - I can, in theory, have a shower with DS2 pulling the shower curtain, climbing the step, demanding his toothbrush and then poking it in the plughole before eating it
The Cons of waking:
The whinging from DS1 will begin about:
- the fact that he's awake
- the fact that his brother is awake
- the fact that he has to go to school
- the fact that he has to do anything ever
I have tried both options this week and concluded that it is a lose-lose situation. Dealing with DS2's destructive urges however is marginally less stressful than the whinging. It also gives me a few minutes to prepare for the whinging onslaught, so I am less likely to yell and swear at him.

Step 3: Having braved that decision I try to wake up DS1 with a smile and a cuddle, but this does not deter the whinging, and I normally lose patience after about 3 whinges and yell anyway - even if what I'm yelling is 'I will not swear at you today so I am going downstairs'.

Step 4: DS2 potters around happily while all this is going on - usually finding things I might need and posting them through the stairgate. When DS2 and I went downstairs this morning there were 2 combs and a sock on the stairs - the usual toybox lid and selection of musical instruments was thankfully missing.

Step 5: I put cereal in bowls, by which time, DS2 has normally finished his 'I don't like her, she's not very nice' yelling - I've never been quite sure who he's telling - and comes down all sweetness and light. Which normally carries on until he's expected to, heaven forbid, put on his coat and shoes and remember his school stuff - then the whinging begins again. It is moving he objects to generally.

Step 6: DS2 spends his breakfast saying 'Uh, Uh' and reaching for things he can't have - like Actimels, spoons,empty Spatone packets - and spitting out any raisins from his porridge that he doesn't approve of.

Step 7: We finish breakfast and after some more shouting and cajoling we make it to the car (which thankfully worked for the rest of the week - thank you Mr Car Mending man)

Step 8: We pile out the other end to school. DS1 runs off to play with his friends, as DS2 either sits in the pushchair complaining, or, if I let him out, runs off in the throng of children and refuses to return.

And so go my weekday mornings. I am shattered and its only the 1st week of term. I don't like this getting up at 7.15 lark, and now I have a whole weekend with both of them and two birthday parties to deal with. Which obviously will involve doing something. Which will initiate the whinging again. Which I will as ever try to deal with without resorting to swearing and shouting... and maybe this time I might even succeed.