Changes

Alyssa doesn’t like change. She hates it when the routine is messed up.

She likes to know what to expect, what’s coming next, that things are going to be the same tomorrow as they are today and were yesterday.

And because of this dislike of change, she had trouble falling asleep last night.

See, my mom isn’t feeling well. Olivia doesn’t have school on Mondays. I usually take O to my mom’s in the morning on my way to work.

This morning, though, Olivia stayed home with Tom. They’re having a Daddy Day, which includes non-stop snacking and all things princess, including dresses, movies and dolls. Yes, Tom does love Daddy Days, why do you ask?

Anyway, I figured that since O wasn’t going to be at my mom’s this afternoon, Alyssa could just get off the bus at home, which is right on the way for the very same bus that drops her off at my mom’s each afternoon. Easy, right?

Except Alyssa worried for HOURS last night (literally, hours…we went to bed at 8:30. She was still worrying at 11:00 about these things.)

First she worried that Cindy, the bus driver, might forget to stop at our house. What happens if she forgets?

I told her that if Tom saw her bus drive past our house without stopping to let her off, he’d pack Livie into the van and follow it to Gram’s house, where he’d get A and they’d all three go home.

But!! What if Daddy forgets to watch for the bus and the bus driver also forgets to stop?

Well, I’ll call Daddy at 3:00 to remind him to start watching for the bus.

Okay, but what if Alyssa forgets to watch for our stop at home?

The bus driver won’t forget to stop and she’ll remind Alyssa to get off the bus when she stops there.

It went on and on and on.

I wish I could say that I was patience personified. But…I wasn’t. I tried to calmly answer her worries with logic and patience but by 11:00 I was all, “Oh for Pete Sakes! Go to sleep already. No one is going to forget anything. Just get of the flipping bus when it stops at home!”

And this morning, she was crabby at Olivia because O was refreshed and chipper after her good night of sleep. Alyssa was not so chipper because she lost almost three hours of sleep to worry.

Poor kid.

But dealing with issues like this is good for her. It will show her that change isn’t always bad. That sometimes, you just have to roll with it and it all turns out in the end.

I do have a reminder in my email calendar that will pop up at 3:00 to tell me to call Tom and remind him to watch for the bus. I did, after all, patiently promise her that I’d do just that. That promise was made early on in the evening of worrying.