Open Letter to Camille

Open Letters seem to be all the rage in passive-aggressiveness these days.  I've seen a few that I really liked, but most of them (the ones I don't agree with, I suppose) just kind of annoy me.  But who am I to deny this bandwagon when it's so easy to jump on it?  So here we go-- my first "open letter"!



Dearest Camille,

You know we love you.  We love you so much!  Your little smile brings joy to our hearts every day. 

But.  Now that the school year has begun, we need to get a few things cleared up.  Namely, how the morning routine is going to go down.  The twenty minutes between 7am and 7:20am is what I think of as "Go Time."  It's the time when Bentley and Kendra are frantically scrambling to finally brush their teeth, brush their hair, get their shoes on, say our morning prayers, and GET OUT THE DOOR.  If we try to get any of those things done before Go Time, they just get undone and demand even more time and attention, so getting up earlier/being more efficient does no good.  Go Time is so specific and frantic, it is nearly a religious experience as Mommy summons every ounce of energy she has to bring order to chaos and try to get little people out the door and onto the bus on time.  Everyone is running around trying to remember what it is they're supposed to be doing and mommy has to constantly remind them and check to make sure they actually did it.  (You would think that after multiple years of leaving the house, Kendra would know that she needs to brush her hair first, but alas, this is not the case.  And I really try my best to not send her to school looking like a complete ragamuffin, so this means reminding and occasionally yelling and threatening to get that hair brushed each morning.)  Lunches need to be made and stuffed into backpacks.  Water bottles need to be refilled.  Sweatshirts and shoes must be found.  And we must review just how to tie shoes because this is not second nature just yet.  (Why didn't I buy Kendra one more pair of velcro shoes???  What was I thinking???)

Camille, as much as I love you and try my best to see to your every need, you must understand that you are NOT allowed to wake up and demand to be fed during that time.  It just does NOT work.  You can wake up earlier if you have to (I don't love it, but I will duly climb out of bed and get you some nice warm milk), and certainly as soon as Bentley and Kendra are out the door, I'm happy to do anything and everything for you.  But not during those twenty minutes!

Or, if you really are so hungry that you just have to wake up during that time, then goshdarnit, you are going to have to learn to eat without letting every single tiny noise disturb you and cause you to stare at the source of that noise with a very annoyed look on that adorable face of yours.  Because despite the fact that EVERY DAY when your siblings come home from school, I ask what papers I need to sign, they still never seem to remember those papers until two minutes before it's time to leave.  And the way you eat, I can't sign papers and feed you simultaneously.  So the solution is clear: either you need to sleep just a few minutes longer, or you need to figure out how to eat through all the chaos.

Camille, I am here for you through everything.  Every smile, every milestone, every new experience.  I'm here for you when you're sad.  I'm here for you five or six times a day (and sometimes more!) when your diaper needs to be changed.  I'm here for every feeding, every change of clothes, every spit up.  But please-- those 20 minutes!  Let me have those 20 minutes to get the big kids out the door!  It's all I ask of you!

Your everloving,
      Mommy