And then comes the dawn...when I tell the Bear "yes, you can play with your Leapster, but only if you get dressed on your own, and then you can play Leapster until I get your sister dressed and we have to leave." 

He does. In about 45 seconds.  And when I tell him to turn it off so we can leave, he does.  And he gets his boots on, and he agrees to help his sister get her boots on, but he doesn't freak when she says she can do it on her own, but just encourages her, and she does get them on by herself, and no one screams and no one hits anyone else, and Mommy doesn't yell at anyone at all...

And the light breaks.  And Mommy is in bed, wearing her "don't make me use my opera voice" T-shirt, blogging while watching a cheezy Hugh Grant/Drew Barrymore flick, thinking about the pasta I will probably eat for brunch in about twenty minutes. (Yeah, I said pasta.  At 10:15am. Wanna make something of it?) For a brief moment, life doesn't suck...

peace,
J