Surprise Me

Most of you are aware of how mornings go at our house. For those of you that are not familiar, let me just give you an idea.

Kiera is not a morning person. She comes by it naturally, as I am not either. When I wake her up in the morning, I usually hand her a cup of chocolate milk and her phone so she can wake up gradually.

Now, if it is the weekend, she will wake up all by herself. Especially if I think I am going to sleep in. That's a whole other story, though.

Let's go back. When I wake her up, I hand over everything, make sure that she is blinking to wake up, pat her on the back or leg and tell her "I love you." I then leave the room to continue getting ready.

A short time later, I will check back on her to determine what she wants for breakfast.

She is not a huge fan of breakfast, but I do not want to send her off to school on an empty stomach.

The fun part about breakfast is she might like something but within a week or two, she has decided that she does not like it. Now, that only works for breakfast.

She used to eat omelets, different varieties of cereal and oatmeal, toast, jelly toast, bananas, oranges, muffins... I'm sure I am missing some items, but you get the idea.

The last two weeks she has been eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I'll admit it. It's not one of my finer mom moments. She has switched out pb&j sandwiches with mandarin oranges a couple of days.

I tread lightly on school mornings. Don't get me wrong. She doesn't get away with being crabby. But, I do try to unnecessarily avoid poking the bear. I love my child and really do not want to send her to school in tears, if it can be avoided.

Now that you have a better idea of mornings... A few days ago I went in her room and woke her up. She stretched and reached for her glass of milk, blinking rapidly to dispel the sleep.

I patted her, told her I loved her, and went back to my room to continue getting ready. A little later I went back to her room to gently prod her into my room.

"Hey, sweet girl!" I said enthusiastically. "Would you like peanut butter and jelly for breakfast?"

She rolled to her back and stared at me for a moment. "What else do we have?" She quietly asked.

I concentrated on not letting my facial expression slide as I wondered if we were off the pb&j sandwiches.

"We have mandarin oranges." I replied, still upbeat.

Kiera lay there, blinking at me as she considered my words. She sat up and stretched again. "How about you surprise me?" She said as she slid off the bed and headed to the bathroom.

I rolled my eyes at her retreating back. Surprise her? Seriously? This couldn't end well.

Making my way into the kitchen, I came up with a game plan. I quickly plated a half of a pb&j sandwich and added a small bowl of mandarin oranges. Best of both worlds, right?

Proud of my self, I handed her breakfast over and began to gather my clothes. Five minutes later, she appeared in the doorway holding her plate.

"Mom. Can you make me another half a sandwich and put my oranges up for later?" She politely asked.

"Of course I can." I smiled at her as I headed to the kitchen, trying not to shake my head in amusement.

Surprise her.... for breakfast... not happening.

Rowonna McNeely her husband, Aaron are regular volunteers in the community, and have their hands full with their daughter, Kiera, along with three dogs and one cat.

Thank you for sharing in our weekly journeys. If you have missed any of our past stories, check out our blog page at www.lifea2k.net or drop us a line at lifea2k@yahoo.com.