Isn't it funny? On the days when you'd like to sleep in, your children wake up with the sun. And on the days when you need them to get up early, they're buried under the covers and not at all ready to get up. So it goes for us, as we begin school days at our house.
On the days that Connor goes to preschool, I have to get up about 7:30 a.m. to make sure everyone is up, dressed and fed before we leave the house about 10 minutes before 9 a.m., when his school officially begins. We only live a few minutes away, but it can be an ordeal. We have to change any last minute diapers, get Connor to actually potty before he leaves (yes, he's one of those children, the kind who rarely potties when he first wakes up and usually does so several hours after breakfast is over), get our shoes, get three little boys in car seats, fold up and pack the double-stroller, and then get on our way. We also have to unload the stroller, load two cranky little guys into it, produce suckers to reduce the amount of screaming, and then get one excited little guy and his bag inside the building and into his classroom. Then we have to locate his name and place it on the green circle (sign-in), put away his "share time" toy, his communication folder and hang up his bag on his hook. Then we head back to the car and start over again minus the big boy. It's an adventure, let me tell you. And we do it twice a day, two days a week, usually with a therapy session or two or three thrown into the mix as well. Fun times.
But I digress, we were talking about sleeping. Today was really fun. Connor is almost always still sleeping when it's time to get up and get ready for school about 7:45 a.m. This morning, he even burrowed back under the covers and turned away from me. I went on and got his little brothers up and dressed and downstairs and he didn't even move or blink. Still snoozing away. I could barely get him to move at 8 a.m., and even then he was laying down and closing his eyes as I got him dressed. And you can forget breakfast, he's usually much too excited and just stares blankly at his plate before saying "I done!"
And little brothers were also in rare form today. Xander, my usual sleepyhead, was laying in bed awake, sucking his thumb. Sawyer, typically my early riser and ready to go at the crack of dawn, can usually be found just behind the door and probably kicking on it for good measure. Today, he was sound asleep in his little corner of the bed, even after I turned the overhead light on and had twin brother already dressed and ready to go.
That would, of course, be due to the fact that he was wide awake from about 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. this morning. Not that Daddy noticed, but Mommy certainly did. For someone who used to be such a deep sleeper, motherhood has certainly changed that. I hear everything now, and at 2:08 a.m. my little man was wide awake, running around in his room, babbling, squealing and laughing at himself. He didn't stop until sometime after 6 a.m. I have no idea how his brother slept through it, but sleep he did. And Sawyer eventually slept too, but it's probably why he wasn't ready to get up this morning and why he's now taking that all-to-rare afternoon nap. Another one of those quirky and cool traits, or so I'm told.
I'm guessing everyone will be awake by 7 a.m. tomorrow, since it's not a school day and we don't have any early plans. Mommy would prefer to sleep until at least 8 a.m., but the boys only seem to want to do that when there's school, and I have to get up early to get them all awake and ready to go. So goes life . . .
