Early Riser

I have a 27 pound alarm clock. This clock of mine is sometimes moody, sometimes giggly, sometimes playful, usually cuddly and always hungry.

Lucky for me, I’ve pretty much always been a morning person. I say “lucky” because it just so happens, that our little guy doesn’t like to sleep. At all. This is especially evident in the wee small hours of the morning. Without fail Willie wakes up between 4 and 4:30 am, raring to go. (In case you are wondering – it doesn’t matter when we put him to sleep. He always wakes up at the same time. Believe me, we’ve tried.)

So, when I hear that tell-tale “MOMMY! MOMMY!”, I go to his room. He is always standing at the side of his crib, blankie clutched in one hand. He always looks up at me smiling and says, “Hi”. It’s a simple little moment, but it melts my heart a little each day.

We head to the kitchen, with only the glow of the nightlights showing us the way. He has a snack (also referred to in our house as “first breakfast”) pretty much as soon as he gets up. This is usually something like crackers and juice. He then plays with his toys, looks at books, colors or builds with his blocks while I watch on, tiredly clutching some morning caffeine.

Shortly after we wave ‘bye bye’ to Daddy; it is time for “second breakfast”. This tends to be a more typical morning meal. Hot cereal, muffins, sausage and eggs – that sort of thing.

I’m not going to lie to you. Sometimes I don’t want to get up at 4am. Sometimes I wish my little man understood how good it feels to roll over and go back to sleep. Sometimes I wish he’d let my husband entertain him in the mornings (Dan has tried – Will must have his Mommy in the mornings – and won’t settle for anything else). Sometimes I just wish that my little alarm clock had a snooze button.

But, no matter how tired I feel; I treasure those mornings spent with my little sweetie. It’s like we have our own quiet little world. The night is still dark. We snuggle and sometimes we quietly sing songs. We watch cartoons, cuddled on the sofa; or listen to the radio over graham crackers and milk.

I know that at some point when he’s older, Will is going to start sleeping later. Maybe someday I’ll have to beg and pester him to get out of bed.

But it didn’t happen today, and it probably won’t happen tomorrow. For now, I’ll just enjoy my early morning wake up calls, and all of the wonderful times they bring.