We’ve been having a ‘sleep situation’ around these parts, i.e. a certain Little Man feels the need to arise before the adults deem it appropriate (or healthy, mostly for them). Ever since he’s learned to climb out of his crib, mornings have been starting around 7am. Now this isn’t a big deal to most families and in fact is probably an acceptable time. But I bet their kids don’t go to bed at 9:30 or 10:00pm: we wouldn’t want to cut off his viewing of ‘So You Think You Can Dance,’ now would we? How else is he going to learn how to properly critique Pop Lock?

At any rate, waking at 7am just does not give enough parental free-of-the-JJ time. Of course I love seeing him. Of course he’s just oh-so-precious early in the morning with hair on one side of his head soluting the world, squishy britches full of saturated diaper, and sleep marks on his face. But when I’ve only been awake for a half hour and haven’t even had time to feed the fish and the cat and the dog and walk the dog and water the plants and make breakfast for Jason much less even think about food for myself, it’s just a bit early. And on the weekends: it’s not fun to wake up to Thud 1 (his beloved dinosaur being thrown out of the crib) and then Thud 2 (his beloved self being thrown out of the crib) at 7:06.
But this morning, well, it’s 8:16, and I haven’t heard a peep. Why? I’m sure folks will offer many different suggestions, but I know the real answer, and it’s again another way of wearing me down.

• Some might say it’s because he ate a healthy amount of food right before bed and therefore is not waking up due to hunger. Enh: the boy snacks all the time: he really should never be hungry, seeing as how he opens the fridge every two hours requesting in a rather strong way to be fed.

• Some might say it’s because he went to Hubby’s softball game last night and ran around with lots of folks and then ran around at home until he came to sit on me while watching Benji and Donyelle dance the Vietnamese Waltz. Enh: he ran himself around the world and back the other day, and yet morning time came at the lovely hour of 6:45.

• Some might say he’s going through a developmental spurt. Enh: that reason is getting old. He’s not eating: developmental spurt. He yells a lot: developmental spurt. He has diaper rash: developmental spurt. It’s kinda like when you take a car to a mechanic, they can’t quite figure out what’s wrong, so they replace a ‘belt.’ Or when your computer’s freaking out and all the IT guy tells you is, ‘Restart it.’ Does that fix the problem? Not necessarily. But it makes folks feel like they were proactive in some means, and it’s an excellent excuse.

No, you know why JJ slept in until 8:23am (he’s up now: he probably heard me typing about him)? Today, it’s raining. That’s right: my son, like me, is powered by the sun. It comes up: he wakes up. It stays away: he sleeps. So this morning (mind you, I’m a little pessimistic due to the gray nasties that I’m staring at out my front window) I’ve decided that I’m doomed: either I live in a happy sunny place and am exhausted all the time or I live in the rain and get an occassional break. Do you see how the world is out to get me? DO YOU? Maybe I’ll just Cha Cha my day away: any other takers?

Daily Drivel, Mama Musings