I knew blogging about the benefits of a routine, how wonderful it is and blah, blah, blah would come back to bite me in the butt. By way of explanation let's just say my day today turned out rather differently than I anticipated.
Let me tell you all about it.
First, I woke up as usual with the kids to the rush-hour frenzy that is getting ready for school in the Morocco house (as my kids call it.) I'm putting on clothes, brushing teeth, fending off potential early-morning-crankiness-induced fights, trying to get ample amounts of food into a resistant Drea's belly, telling Eli for the umpteenth time that he can't watch Spiderman before school lest it send him into a screaming fit when he has to turn it off to head to school. I'm sure all you parents have a sufficient mental picture of what's going on here, even 5,000 miles away.
Anyway, we are finally up and out the door and running only a few minutes late. However, it seems noone bothered to tell the foreigner (that would be me) that there is some holiday today in Morocco and there is no school. I kinda figured it out when I arrived at a quiet and locked-up school.
Drea was bummed, crazy girl that she is. "I'm mad at school. I miss school. I want to learn." Bless her heart, I thnk she was almost as upset as I was.
But not quite.
So back to the Morocco house we go, where Eli and his cousin Nazaar promptly start fighting and I and Nazaar's mother look at each other with the knowing (and grim) looks of mothers with a long, long day ahead of them.
Sister-in-law to the rescue. Or so I thought. Wafa (aforementioned sister-in-law) suggests a day spent at her older sister Saida's house. A quick look at Eli and Nazaar about to make like the WWF and I'm out of there.
Needless to say this was a mistake. Wafa assured me this was a 30-minute walk. I really should have known better.
What should have amounted to a half hour ended up taking over a hour as we were accompanied by these two whiny, seemingly crippled children. I really don't know where they came from.
All joking aside I was happy when we finally reached our destination and, in true Moroccan form, we were greeted with mint tea and freshly made bread and olive oil. Delish!!!!
Once satiated my mood changed considerably and for the better. Prepared mother that I am I had brought along four cartoon DVD's (which we buy for pennies at this great little shop near the Morocco house) and the kids were soon calmed and quiet. We ended up spending a nice afternoon with the fam, only interrupted by a little nap for Drea who was sufferering from a slight fever.
The walk home was better as my request to borrow my sister-in-law's stroller was happily complied with. I parked Eli in that sucker, put Drea on my back (when in Morocco do as the Moroccans do!) and headed home.
Once back home, we were greeted by Ali's uncle and his devil of a son (this is the kid who threatened Eli with a shockingly long kitchen knife, one which I had to pry out of his death grip before he murdered my son in a fit of rage, I kid you not) and the uncle's wife. They were here not five minutes, not even time to have a cup of coffee and those kids were at it. WWF was on and it was vicious! After the devil child whacked Eli across the face it was all over. I never saw two people (i.e. his parents) haul butt so quickly out of there. You should have seen Ali's mother's face when she realized they hadn't even had coffee (God forbid!), but that kid was heard kicking and screaming all the way out to the car, and you know what? I wasn't sorry at all to see him go. No telling what I would have done if he had pulled another knife.
After that I shuffled my kids (Eli screaming from his recent mistreatment) through the bath, calmed them down, put on Spiderman, took a deep breath and put them in the care of Wafa. That's what kid sisters-in-law are for after all.
They were sleeping by 7.
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