For Such a Time As This?

There are all kinds of people in the world.  Some morning people, some night owls.  I truly think your propensity towards one or the other is an inborn part of your personality.  True, you can work on becoming more of a morning person (and society pretty much dictates this to some degree), ones natural inclination, I think,  is innate.

For a glimpse of this, one must simply observe my two daughters.

Both raised in the same household, by the same parents.  Both even sleep in the same room and go to bed at the same time.

Both, however, do note wake up the same way. 

Take this morning as a very typical example.

My three year old woke first and appeared in the dining room with a smile on her face.  She instantly asked for Cheerios and chocolate milk (as she does every morning) and as I got them for her she began chattering to me about the birds she heard singing out of her window. 

While I set about cleaning the kitchen and packing Scott’s lunch she eagerly began coloring a picture in her coloring book.  She does not need any time to wake up or adjust.  She wakes up, “On” and ready to seize the day.

Thirty minutes later her sister appeared in the dining room.  Her eyes are barely open, a literal snarl on her face, and while she is standing in our dining room, she is by no means awake yet.  When she wakes up, she doesn’t want to talk, she merely wants to crawl in Mom or Dad’s lap and sit. 

It’s a wonderful time for snuggling if you seize the opportunity.

About 10 or 15 minutes after she appeared in our dining room she utters her first word, “banana”. 

I can tell she is going to be my coffee drinker.

After eating her banana and sitting on Daddy’s lap for a good 15 minutes, she is ready to climb down and face the world.

While I have known she is not a morning person for awhile now, I have not figured out the best way to get her up and dressed on the mornings we need to get out the door by 8 am. 

In my ignorance, I have let her sleep as long as possible with the hope that she will wake on her own and thus wake in a better mood.  Only recently, have I realized the folly in this approach.  Even if she wakes on her own, she still needs at least 15 minutes before she can start thinking about moving along.  If I let her sleep until 7:45 or worse yet, if I WAKE her at 7:45, it is only going to be a battle of epic proportions to get her dressed and out the door in 15 minutes.   I know b/c I tried this for weeks on end and it was not a pleasant start to the day.  Recently, we learned that if you wake her up earlier, give her time to sit and snuggle, eat and THEN prompt her to get dressed and ready, she is much more amicable. 

Hmm…. is it actually better for a non morning person to wake up earlier rather than later?

This is interesting.

This week I tried the same approach on myself.  I would attest that Scott nor I are morning people.  And as such, our most productive time of day seems to be late at night.  Mornings we like to sleep in as late as possible than race around the house to get everyone out the door.  We often run late in the mornings.  

Yesterday my youngest woke at 5:30.

A.M. 

I decided to go ahead and feed him so that he would be fed and set until after we got home from dropping his brother off at the tutorial. 

I then decided that since we had no bread in the house for breakfast or lunch, that perhaps I should just stay up and make some.  Thank you Sarah, for your quick beer bead recipe, which doesn’t need time to rise.   With the bread in the oven, I decide to go ahead and work on my homework for Bible study, which I was dreadfully behind on.   Then, it was 7 am and I hopped in the shower. 

I have tried setting my alarm and rising early in the past.  I typically hit snooze and roll over till the last minute possible.  I think, much like my 5 yr old, I need time to wake up.  I can not wake up and hop in the shower.  I need to come out, sit on the couch, read a little facebook, grab a cup of coffee, sit on the couch and do my quiet time, AND THEN shower and get ready to start the day. 

I don’t know how long I can keep this up.  Old habits die hard and I am not one to rise early and meet the sun.  BUT, I will say that the last two mornings I have greatly enjoyed the time of quiet to prepare the kitchen, the house, and my heart, for the day ahead.   I like starting the day feeling like I am some what ahead instead of racing around feeling rushed and guilty and very much like that mom. (Ya know the one with all the kids who is never on time and didn’t even shower or put together a somewhat respectable outfit).

Perhaps my switch to the dark side this fall was a preparation for such a time as this…