Morning Has Broken

There are two types of sleepers. Those who have their heavy sleep at the end of their sleep cycle (in the morning) and those who have it at the start of their sleep cycle (soon after they fall asleep.) I am of the second variety, which means if you wake me up after I have been sleeping for five minutes I will be very grumpy. It also means that I wake up on the early side. Not because I don't want to sleep later, but because I get woken up more easily then.

It doesn't help that there is a conspiracy to wake me up at the crack of dawn. I know this for a fact. It was proven to me this morning. And it starts with the birds.

At 4:30am, before the light of dawn even makes it to our bedroom windows, the birds start to sing. The hot days are too much for them, so they must do all their socializing in the early hours, when it is cool. However, I would like to suggest 8am. Because the 4:30 thing is getting out of hand. And before you think I'm nuts, let me explain that I always wondered how a rooster could wake a farm until fifty thousand birds going about their business kept me from going back to sleep.

I don't know if it's the birds, or if it's just the time of day, but about this time the boys start making noises. Not fully-awake noises, but whimpering "I might go back to sleep or I might start to scream" noises. And if you're a parent, like me, and it's 5am, you probably do what I do - freeze and stare at the clock and WILL the child back into a deep and restful sleep, afraid that even the slightest noise - such as turning over and rustling the sheets, will wake the kid the rest of the way up, and any chance of further sleep is lost.

It is always about this time that Steve begins to snore. He can remain silent all night, but once the boys begin to stir he, for some reason, decides to sleep flat on his back and the snoring starts. It begins softly, and I always, always think it might just peter out, but then it builds in volume, the crescendo practically rattling the windows, and even though sleep, for me, may be out of the question by now, I still panic because I know, I JUST KNOW the boys will hear the snores and will wake up. So I have to poke my husband and get him to roll over, which he always does, but not without muttering incomprehensible things in an injured tone of voice.

A few minutes later Nicholas wanders in, his arms full of stuffed animals, and announces that he needs help with the potty, and the morning is pretty much ruined for me, at 5am. Early riser or not, I usually feel that a person deserves at least a fighting chance of sleeping until 6am.