Patrick Star Shape

Early mornings have become the norm to me these days! In fact waking up after 6am is now considered a luxury in my house! Weekends spent in bed recovering from a hangover whilst munching on a McDonalds to boost my energy levels are something of a vague memory. Instead I am now woken to the piercing sound of the word "JUICE"!! Now to some this may sound familiar, however to me this is like a jolt from the blue.......and so my day begins.

As a single mother who works full time, an early routine is a must and can be easily disrupted by the slightest interruption. My normal routine is to give my daughter a drink and put her favorite selection of TV programmes on whilst I try to get myself sorted and ready for the day. This once used to take me hours but now takes me a spritely 30 minutes, an art I have down to a tee. However it seems no matter how quickly I get myself ready I am never prepared for the curve ball that is thrown in by my 3 year old daughter. The first task and I say task as this is not a simple nor calm transaction, is asking my daughter to get dressed. You would have thought I had asked her to do Algebra by her reaction of "NO" and the stamping of feet! This then soon turns into a full blown wrestling match whilst I build up a sweat of frustration transferring me into a female version of Lee Evans! This is not the executive look I was going for. Once the situation has calmed and we have one dressed little lady and one electrocuted mad woman the second task is upon me of brushing her hair! Now I must say this is starting to get better, and with a few "naughty" bribes I manage to comb her hair into a ponytail......happy days.

So we are set and ready to leave and whilst I grab all the necessities needed for the day and load up the car I then have to scrape my daughter off the television which then again turns into a protest of "it's not finished yet Mummy". By the time we walk out the door and with my child wanting to run half way down the street I am just about ready for A) Bed and B) a Nervous Breakdown! Now at this point you must be thinking "she is over the worst" and yes if I was reading this then I would probably be thinking the same, however the finale is about to come......So I ask my daughter to get into her car seat "No Mummy" she says! We then stand there having a Mexican stand off for the next ten minutes until I am forced to pick her up and put her into the seat, now this is when I learnt what the "Patrick Star Shape" was! and boy does it take all your force and patience to deal with it. As I put my daughter into her seat she does exactly the title of this blog. I never knew such a small young child could be so strong and so determined but yet she proves me wrong every time.

These early morning routines are just part of the norm for single parents yet can have such a huge impact on a you're working day. I often sit down after a hard day wondering "am I the only one who does this?" and is it all worth it, then I go upstairs to see my sleeping beauty and with a melting heart I realise it is. So, who else has experienced the "Patrick Star Shape?" Do you have mornings filled of stress and shouting? Maybe you have a great morning routine you would like to share......If so I would love to hear. To all you single parent's out there, you are not alone and never will be! Reach out, there is always someone out there who shares the same experiences as you.