45 seconds

It may shock you to know that the morning routine in the Russell house is a precise, timed to the minute operation.  Now that both kids need to get up and out the door at exactly 6:50 (by the clock on the stove-not any of the other 6 clocks we have downstairs), we have to get it right.  It took me about a month when Harper joined the morning routine to get the timing down and now it's a well oiled machine.  Except when it isn't. Which is at least two mornings a week.  Such is life.
But this morning as I was running exactly 2 minutes behind schedule, I realized something funny I try and do.  Every morning, without fail, Garrett has two pancakes for breakfast. Because I suck as a mother, I allow Eggo to make those pancakes for me. It takes 45 seconds in the microwave to heat up 2 pancakes.  (1 takes 30 seconds and on the rare morning Harper wants one too, 3 takes 1 minute).
The game I play every morning during those 45 seconds is "how much can I get done in 45 seconds?"
The answer may surprise you.  Most mornings, once I hit start on the microwave, I can pull out both lunchboxes, get ice packs in each and zip them back up, get the syrup and the Ulu (knife thing I use to cut the pancakes) on the counter in the ready position. If it's a really great morning, I can even get bags out for the 4 snacks I have to pack each day. But generally, snack packing happens while they kids eat breakfast.
It's become a little game I play with myself, without even realizing that I did it, really.  But today I didn't have the syrup out before the timer went off and I was disappointed.  Like when you're taking a timed test and the buzzer sounds when you're on the last question kind of disappointed.
I guess I am a little more competitive than I thought.
Boy, with drama like this (and all before 7:00 in the morning), I'm shocked they haven't been beating down the door offering us our own reality show!