Rough Mornings

This morning was a rough morning at our house, and I did something I should probably feel badly about, but I don't. 

Let me explain.

Both of our kiddos have alarm clocks that go off about 6:40.  The girl's goes off about 90 seconds before the boy's, so she's usually down the stairs first.  She's gotten into the habit of jumping up into bed with me and snuggling for a few minutes before we really start our day.  It's been a very nice part of the morning.

The problem is, the boy is now wanting to get into bed to snuggle with us, too.  This would be fine, except neither of them wants to be in the middle between J and I; both want to be between me and the edge of the bed. 

If my girl knew how to take turns, it wouldn't be a big deal.  We'd just rotate through each day; one day the boy is in the middle, the next day, the girl.  But apparently 4.5 year olds are still going through those fun kinds of phases.  And we are solidly in one right now.  This phase involves:  crying muchly over small things; only wanting her way; not wanting to take turns; not understanding that when I say no.  And the whining.  My god the whining. 

So I'm already lacking a little in patience for her, which admittedly, I need to work on. 

This morning, the girl's alarm goes off as usual.  I was in the middle of a pretty deep sleep, and awaken to the sounds of doors slamming and feet pounding down the stairs.  Oy. 

The girl gets there first and immediately wants up on my side of the bed.  I tell her that it's her brother's turn to be there, and she gets the middle.  Consistent with the phase I mentioned above, I immediately get a "no."  By now, the boy has made it downstairs and wants to snuggle, too.  I try again to explain to the girl (as they are both pressed against the side of my bed, arguing) that it is not her turn; it is B's turn to be on the edge of the bed.

No dice.

At this point, both the girl and the boy attempt to climb up onto the bed, elbows, knees and heads banging together against them and me (as they are literally on top of me now).  I think I might've tried one more time to get my point across, but it was lost in the cacophony.  I was irritable at being woken up like this, and more pissed that they were ignoring me. 

So I did what I do to the cat when I can't take it any more (because the cat usually occupies the space between me and the edge of the bed).  Sudden body roll towards the edge of the bed while yanking up the covers = two kids OFF MY BED NOW AND ON THE FLOOR.

I was probably harsher than I needed to be, but I was more than a little tired of being ignored.  The boy rebounded immediately, figured out that his presence was probably not needed or even welcome in our bedroom, and beat a hasty exit.  He was completely fine the rest of the morning.

The girl?  Not so much.  She hit the ground and immediately started crying because her knee hurt.  Every parent knows the difference in cries between "my knee really hurts" and "I'm not getting my way."  This was the latter.  I let J handle the aftermath, I was simply too pissed off about the situation to do anything else.

The morning actually ended fine.  The girl eventually came out of her sobbing fit, the boy was fine, and they were happy kids going to school. 

And now I'm torn as to whether I should feel badly for pitching them off the bed.  Because really, they are old enough to know better.  And old enough to learn the consequences when you don't do what you are asked or when you hurt other people.  I'm sure there are better ways to get my point across, but for some reason, that was the only thing I could think of when I was still mostly asleep and getting pummeled at 6:40 am.  Tomorrow is another day, right?