Mornings & Me

We have two school days under our belt. Let me rephrase: we have two school mornings under our belt. I’m pleased with how things have gone though I’m sure that Labor Day will confuse us all, throwing a wrench into my well-oiled morning machine.

I’m not a morning person. That doesn’t mean that I don’t have to wake up most mornings at 7:00, also known as seven-zero-zero in our household. You see, BigBrother is a morning person. I don’t know how and I don’t know why. Everyone says he’s the spitting image of me in looks and personality. For the most part, that’s the truth. He has my eyes and, boy, is he ever loud. But this morning stuff? That’s not from me. Nor is it from FireDad. Every morning, whether he goes to sleep at his normal bedtime (7:00pm) or later due to being out and about, he’s up and ready to go at seven-zero-zero. People told us, “Put him to bed later!” The result? He woke up at the same time only having had less sleep which made for a grumpier BigBrother. I’d rather he be happy than grumpy, wouldn’t you agree?

But when he has his normal amount of sleep, he wakes up with a smile on his face. I mean, who does that? I sure don’t though I sometimes fake it in the morning. Today was no different. He bebopped into my room after using the bathroom, ready for his oatmeal and his school day. I rolled myself out of bed, dragged myself into the kitchen and made his breakfast. And then, of course, my coffee.

Today, different than Wednesday, was our first no-FireDad school morning. He woke up and went to the fire station before any of us were awake this morning. He was a big help on Wednesday. As usual, the life of a fire family messes with our everyday life. We have two different kinds of normal in our home: days with daddy and days without. This morning I had to do it myself. So, as BigBrother ate and my coffee brewed, I got my hair pulled back and found my gym clothes. I heard LittleBrother wake up at this point, so I got him changed into his clothes and up. I made his breakfast at which point BigBrother asked for a bowl of regular cereal. I consumed some coffee during all of these exchanges, slowly beginning to wake up an hour after I had been wakened. Then I got BigBrother dressed for school, gathered my gym bag, the diaper bag and BigBrother’s backpack and got us out the door. On time. Win.

After dropping BigBrother off at school, LittleBrother and I headed to the YMCA. I worked out for about 40 minutes while the childcare worker apparently had no clue on how to calm down a child who hasn’t been in daycare ever. (It’s called redirection and/or interaction. It’s not called “talk on your phone while the kid cries and wonder why.” This is an aggravating post for another time.) We headed home, split a peach and then I took a shower and got dressed. We played for a bit, I drank another cup of coffee, picked up BigBrother and came back home. Lunch, stories and naptime. Here I sit, having retrieved the mail and had some lemonade on our new deck. (More on that later as well.)

I know not all mornings will flow as well. In fact, as LittleBrother nears the age of two, I’m sure he’ll throw some of his own wrenches in the works. Today he slowed us down by refusing to come down the rest of the stairs. He didn’t throw a fit. He just sat down, smiled and said, “Late.” He should prove to be interesting come, oh, January, I bet.

The point of all of this babble is this: I’m not a morning person. But I feel fabulous today. I’m still battling some weird headaches that I should probably have checked out but, really, I feel awesome. I have energy. I could probably use one more cup of coffee. Then again, I could always use one more cup of coffee. I enjoyed my alone time with LittleBrother in the car and at home over our peach. (He, however, was desperate for his brother by the time school was over. More on that, as well, next week.)

I think I might learn to like mornings.

(Also, if you know of a good sale on patio furniture this Labor Day weekend, please leave a comment. We’re looking for a square table and chairs to seat the four of us.)