It’s the dread of Arizona Summers for me. In their early years, I tell my children, "You sleep while the sun sleeps." When it hits summer, I do my best to black out their rooms so they don’t realize the sun doesn’t go to bed until 8:00 and begins to rise at 4:30. Because once they discover it, they don’t want to sleep.
You would think that after five children, I would learn my lesson and come up with a better explanation as to why it is time for them to sleep. It just has worked so well – until about 2 ½. Then they draw the correlation between their sleep and the sun’s sleep.
The last few weeks, B has begun to wake off and on, shortly after the sunrise. Giving her reason to believe it is time to wake up. This morning, she wandered into my room at 3:48 AM! I knew I had little more than a ½ hour to get her back to sleep before she realized all nature was beginning to awake.
I failed.
Between her growling tummy and desire to color in her princess book, she couldn’t get herself back to sleep. I did my best to pretend I was sleeping, all the while listening to her excited jabbering about what color she was going to color Ariel.
Right about 4:30, she quietly slipped from my bed (where she had at least been laying down) and went over to my window. I dreaded what was coming next. Try as I might, I haven’t been able to eliminate the glow from the edges of my blackout curtains when the sun is up.She stood on her tiptoes as she gazed out the window.
With a squeal, she began to gallop around the room exclaiming “The sun is waking up! The sun is waking up!” She galloped over to the bathroom to retrieve her stool, galloped back to my window, and climbed up to give herself a better view.
The horizon was beginning to glow, chasing away the darkness of night. And B LOVED it!!!
“Mommy, look! It’s changing colors! The sun is coming up!” she would jump off her stool and run over to my bedside to make sure I knew the sky was changing colors. She giggled and squealed.
Part of me envied hubby’s ability to sleep through the excited jabbering of our two year old. But another part of me was so glad to be able to hear how excited she was at this discovery. After a while of B watching the sunrise, I knew that resistance was futile and decided to start the day.
A short time later, I was getting out of the shower. Of course, B was at my side, because really, who would want privacy in the shower? I put on my bathrobe and B looked at me inquisitively. “Mommy, why are you wearing that Superthing?” I never thought of my bathrobe as a “superthing” but I guess it could be. And it sure beats the “Are you growing a mustache?” comment I got yesterday (from an ADULT)
We made our way downstairs, coloring book in tow, and turned on Noggin. (because I really don’t function well early in the morning – maybe ever)
B sat down, began to color, and paused long enough to tell me, “Mommy, I woke up tired again.”
Me too, sweetie. Me too.
Update:
Two hours later:
6 comments:
Oh she sure keeps you on your toes! She sounds so sweet tho! I hope you get to squeeze in some quiet time today! When do the boys wake up?
Oh wow! I thought I had it bad, my 2 year old has been waking up at 5:45 because the sun is up. So sorry.
Good luck today, take a nap if you can!
I'm so sorry. But it sounds like you are the queen of patience. Such a good mom, you are!
that is the cutest thing! my kids wake up with the garage door opening while my husband leaves for work. 5:30 is still too early but not as early as 4:30
Just tell them the sun is tricky. Thats what I have done for years, so far so good. We can still get them to bed by 7:30!!
Love it, well not having to wake up so early, sorry about that, but she is so cute. " I woke up tired again" that is funny and cute.
Post a Comment