Thursday, December 13, 2007

Night Owl in an Early Bird World


My entire life I have been a night owl. I never wanted to go to bed as a child. I always have had a hard time waking up. Every morning I am reminded that I am not a morning person. I have a strong dislike for alarm clocks. The snooze feature is dangerous. Especially when you accidentally turn it off and think you hit snooze. Every night I stay up too late, because that is my energy time. And my me time. I have to wonder why the world has to be (or seem to be) so oriented towards mornings. School starts early. Work days start early. I tried exercising early in the morning. I couldn't stay awake later in the day.

I just cannot get up and go, go, go in the morning. I need to meander through the morning and work up to speed. I can't eat early in the morning. It upsets my stomach. Except, I have children. School-age children. And school starts at 8 am. And sweetP is just like me. He likes to meander through the morning too. It worked like magic last year. His kindergarten started at 11:40 and we eased our way into the day.

Now, I have to coax him awake most of the time. And then nag him to get him dressed. It can take 20 minutes. That happens to be 4 minutes per clothing item. Socks count as two. The shoes take at least 5 more minutes and that is with me tying them for him. And I can't get mad at him. He is just like me. But as the parent, I have to get up and get moving and get him moving too. And I wish we could all just crawl back into bed and go back to sleep all snuggly and warm.

I managed to get my job to cooperate. I don't get there until almost noon. At least 3 days a week. I need to find a way to convince sweetP's school to start about an hour later. One of our friends children's school doesn't start until 9:15 am. Heaven! I can't even begin to think how perfect that would be. I am insanely jealous.

My greatest fear is that by the time I actually get to sleep in until 8 every morning, I will no longer be able to. Okay that isn't my greatest fear. But it is up there. The greatest fear happens to be snakes. Pictures of snakes, actual snakes, toy snakes. Doesn't matter. I even covered pictures of snakes in a text book with sticky notes when I had to teach it.

7 comments:

willowtree said...

Amen sista! Mornings are for those who appreciate REM (not the band).

laurie said...

i love mornings. we get up at 5:30 most mornings. the dogs won't let us sleep in on the weekends, but we nap on sunday afternoons.

but i do feel for you. my niece is the same way--she's always been a night person, and it was a struggle for her to get up and go to school. she's now in her first year at university, and i got an email from her the other day she sent at 2 a.m. ... she wasn't a bit sleepy, but she had a history exam at 7 and so she knew she should really get to bed....

ped crossing said...

Well, welcome willowtree! This morning I really wanted to hurl the alarm across the room.

laurie - 5:30 is an hour I avoid at all costs! We have Velcro trained to not bug us until he hears someone moving about. Then he does his best to kill you by being completely underfoot until you feed him. Food comes before potty time in his book. Doesn't matter how bad he has to go.

Suzie Petunia said...

Well we certainly are kindred spirits. (Haven't I said that before?) I am NOT a morning person either. I have learned to get up early on days I want to run, but that is the only thing that will get me out of bed at that early hour. Oh, how I WISH my kids' school started at 9 instead of 8! It would also mean they would be gone longer into the afternoon!

Susan said...

I am completely the opposite! I love the quiet of early morning, but I also love to sleep until 8:00 on the weekends, which rarely happens! My kids have to be at school at 7:40 and I am at work by 8:00. I love to get into bed early and relax. Even in college I loved to get up and get working early, and then be done early, too. Of course, in college, you are up early and working late.

the rotten correspondent said...

I started out the same as you, but have somehow (against my will) turned the other way. Three kids (only one early bird, thank god, and he's the self sufficient one) was bad enough. But between nursing school and actual nursing my body clock has shifted. Several years of having to be on the road at 6 am have totally screwed with me.

Now, that said, sleeping in on the weekends is one of the most precious luxuries I have. Pure bliss.

LCM said...

I am the with you on school starting too early. Here in the great state of Texas, school starts at 8:40am and we live a 2 minute walk away!! (evil cackling). We switched Buttercup from morning kindergarten to afternoon, but we were just putting off the inevitable.