Ocho reminded me on Friday morning that we follow two routines in this house - one we observe during the summer, and the other applies throughout the school year.
There is really nothing routine about our summer days and nights. We get up and eat breakfast. After that, anything goes. Maybe I take a shower and then sit on the front porch and read. Or maybe I sit on the front porch and read and then take a shower. We might go out back and play fetch for 30 minutes. Or maybe Beth comes over to take Ocho for a walk. I might go to the grocery store after breakfast, or I might turn on the computer and check email and surf the internet. Our time is completely unstructured, and I love the day-to-day variation and the freedom FROM the routine that comes with summer.
When school is in session, though, our mornings run with military precision. I wake up to the sound of an alarm clock at 4:20 a.m. While Ocho continues to sleep in bed, I take a shower and get dressed. This is followed by Ocho getting out of bed and being sent out back to pee. When he comes inside we eat breakfast, and then he goes back outside for the last time before I leave for school.
As I finish my breakfast and listen to the morning news, Ocho - who is now back inside the house - returns to the bedroom where we slept, grabs a pillow off of the bed, and charges through the living room and kitchen with the pillow dangling from his mouth. He does this without fail, Monday through Friday, from Labor Day until the end of June.
I'd forgotten about Ocho's antics over the summer, but when I got up on Friday morning and went through the whole school year morning routine, as I sat in the kitchen finishing my breakfast I heard the pitter patter of paws running across the floor in the hallway. I knew what was coming. A yellow blur shot past me. I swallowed the last bite of my bagel and rolled into the family room to see Ocho in his crate, his prized possession partially hidden behind him. I guess it's time for me to go back to school.
There is really nothing routine about our summer days and nights. We get up and eat breakfast. After that, anything goes. Maybe I take a shower and then sit on the front porch and read. Or maybe I sit on the front porch and read and then take a shower. We might go out back and play fetch for 30 minutes. Or maybe Beth comes over to take Ocho for a walk. I might go to the grocery store after breakfast, or I might turn on the computer and check email and surf the internet. Our time is completely unstructured, and I love the day-to-day variation and the freedom FROM the routine that comes with summer.
When school is in session, though, our mornings run with military precision. I wake up to the sound of an alarm clock at 4:20 a.m. While Ocho continues to sleep in bed, I take a shower and get dressed. This is followed by Ocho getting out of bed and being sent out back to pee. When he comes inside we eat breakfast, and then he goes back outside for the last time before I leave for school.
As I finish my breakfast and listen to the morning news, Ocho - who is now back inside the house - returns to the bedroom where we slept, grabs a pillow off of the bed, and charges through the living room and kitchen with the pillow dangling from his mouth. He does this without fail, Monday through Friday, from Labor Day until the end of June.
I'd forgotten about Ocho's antics over the summer, but when I got up on Friday morning and went through the whole school year morning routine, as I sat in the kitchen finishing my breakfast I heard the pitter patter of paws running across the floor in the hallway. I knew what was coming. A yellow blur shot past me. I swallowed the last bite of my bagel and rolled into the family room to see Ocho in his crate, his prized possession partially hidden behind him. I guess it's time for me to go back to school.
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