Because who wants to do things the easy way?

Alternate title: ”Just in case any one of you thinks that I have it together”

It’s Friday now; Karel is at barnehage (after his normal morning tantrum), Bjørn is at work, Emil is sleeping, and I have brownies about to go into the oven. And it’s only 11 a.m.

AND the boys stayed in their own beds all night. (Mostly, anyway. Bjørn found Emil asleep on his back on the floor this morning, which is maybe not so surprising given this is how he positioned himself last night.)

So the week is wrapping up pretty calmly. But can I tell a quick story about how it started? A tiny little incident I now feel compelled to share in the event that our beloved friends and family might need a tiny little chuckle to help them through the week?

Monday mornings are not always so good for us. Three of the four Lyngstads residing at Solvangvegen 17 are not morning people. The two that are over 30 are usually able to deal. The one under 4 is not. Anyway, this particular Monday morning, Bjørn was headed to Trondheim and thus needed to be leaving Steinkjer by 8 a.m. I was supposed to ”work,” and the boys were scheduled to be at barnehage. We (read: Bjørn, aka-super-pappa) prepared their lunchboxes the night before, got all their gear together, and had them in bed relatively early with the hope that they would subsequently wake up relatively early on their own. (Waking up Karel is almost impossible and almost never tear-free.)

The next morning was…okay. Emil had been awake quite a bit during the night, so slept later than usual. Waking him up, however, was no problem. He just crawled out of bed and started stumbling towards the stairs, happy little morning man that he (usually) is. Karel woke up on his own, thankfully, but did NOT want to go to barnehage. I cannot think of anything that makes my cortisol level rise higher or more quickly than forcing clothes onto my tired, screaming, crying 3.5 year old. Once the clothing battle is won, he’s usually just fine. But heaven forbid he spare us that battle.

ANYWAY, considering we had all four of us in the car and ready to go at the appointed time (7:40 a.m.), we were pretty proud of ourselves. I actually remembered to take a spare house key so I could get in after work, the boys had all their stuff, and my lunch sandwich for once made it from the kitchen counter into my bag. And all this happened before drinking even a drop of coffee. Take that, Monday morning!

However, as soon as we arrive at barnehage, I realize that I’d left my bag at home. No problem, I assure Bjørn. We’ll drop the kids off, you go on your way, and I’ll call in and say that I’ll be late and walk the 5 minutes through the little woods back up to our house to get my bag. ‘Cuz today I remembered a key, so it’s totally no problem. Crisis averted, one point to mama. A walk in the woods, albeit uphill, will be nice.

So that’s what I did. I mentioned the uphill part, right? And the inch or so of new snow that had fallen the night before? As I started, I did begin to kind of question the wisdom of choosing this route. New snow is slippery, by the way. But someone had gone before me, so I tried to stay in those tracks, all the while teetering on the of brink of embarassment as I, an adult woman, found myself on all fours a couple of time at some particularly steep spots. A thought about how worn out the tread must be on my boots passed through my mind.  The only person I met, thankfully, was a 10 or 12 year old boy near the top of the woods who was presumably on his way to school. He slipped and fell, and I said something about how slippery it is today.

Wanna know what makes an uphill walk through the woods on fresh snow slippery?

Wearing these:

When I got into our house, picked up my bag, and caught a glimpse of blue out of the corner of my eye…

Yeah, there aren’t really words, actually.

I only wish I knew what that kid was thinking as the CRAZY LADY WITH PLASTIC SHOE COVERINGS tried to make conversation about the slippery snow conditions.

With that, we say: Happy Friday.

(I could barely recount this later in the day because I just kept laughing so hard. In fact, I’m laughing now. The shoe covers came from barnehage, available to parents to use if you don’t want to take off your boots. I usually realize I have them on before I make it to the car…but clearly not always.)