School Year Mornings

BuZzZZzzZzzzzZZZ.

Slam. Pound. Slap. Slap. Fidget.

It has been so long since I have had to use an alarm clock in any sort of reliable way that I can't even figure out how to turn the damn thing off anymore.

My alarm clock for the past three years has been a tiny little boy who squawked into the monitor and who now climbs on top of me, throws a ball at my head or stands inches from my face with a snack in hand begging that I open it. All of which are more gentle than the loud persistent buzzing of an alarm clock. 

When Liam started school last year, he was waking up on average at 5am and so there was no need to have an alarm then. But, this year--he's not really napping any more and so he is sleeping well past 5am these days (knock on wood) and two days a week I have had to set the dreaded beast.

I try hard to wake up before it goes off, because in my blind no-glasses stupor I seem to endlessly flop my arm in the general direction of the alarm clock with no real accuracy. And, once I do locate it I can't ever seem to remember which of the dozen or so buttons turns the thing off.

I guess it's just slowly preparing me for the days when I'll have to wake him up from a sweet slumber to go to school.

This morning no alarm clock was needed. He came out of his room, crawled into bed, wrapped my arms around him and asked if we could just snuggle all morning instead of get up for school.

Oh how I longed to say YES!

Back-To-School Traditions

It's hard to believe that the back-to-school season is already upon us. We are lucky in that Liam's new school doesn't have a required supply list. And, yet he and I love to go browsing through the section anyway. Just last week he insisted on both a green and pink roll of tape.

Who can say no when they are only 25 cents a piece?

It's also hard to believe that he's already soon to be starting his second year of school..and YES we already have some traditions. Last year Daddy went into work late so he could drop the little man off and I hope that continues to be something that we can make part of our yearly tradition.

We also start off the day with our little guy's favorite food: blueberry pancakes with lots of "dip dip" (syrup) and this year we'll be adding some of his second favorite food...BACON.

He'll get to take his new Orioles lunch box and you know we'll have to take his picture outside of school this year too.

But, my favorite part of the back-to-school season? We have a deal that if it rains on a school day we get to go out for lunch after school. It rained so much on his school days last year that we went out almost every single week. I love that it gives us something to look forward to, keeps him interested in the weather, and gives us (hopefully) several days of mamma/dude time that is just ours throughout the school year.

Do you have your own back-to-school traditions?

This post was sponsored by Tiny Prints. Check out their great collection of back-to-school items by clicking on the image at the top of this post. 

Disclosure: Tiny Prints provided me with compensation for this review. The opinions expressed in this review are mine and mine alone and were in no way influenced by Tiny Prints.