When our twins were babies, they woke before the sun rose. Every morning, without fail, they were awake between 5:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. If we kept them up later at night, they woke up at the exact same time. We never used alarm clocks because our twins were alarm clocks stuck on “too early.”
I am not a morning person, so this was a nightmare for me. For a long time, my husband would get up with them while I slept a little bit longer, then showered, because when you have twin babies, you really don’t have a moment to yourself. And I would die if I had to get up at 5:00 a.m. every morning.
The early mornings were the worst. I would say, “Just wait until they’re teenagers! I’m going to be vacuuming in their rooms at 6:00 a.m. for revenge!”
But the years passed and now they are teenagers. And I’m sleeping at 6:00 a.m.! And 7:00 a.m.! They are sleeping at 8:00 a.m. And 9:00 a.m.! Earlier this week, I was downstairs at 7:30 a.m. (getting breakfast for my almost-4 year old) and I heard the boys’ alarm beeping. It beeps for an hour before it shuts off.
It beeped the whole hour and they did not stir, not even to push the “snooze” button.
They sleep like the dead, these teenagers. This is the first summer that they have slept in (until 10:00 a.m. some mornings). Which has been glorious in many ways.
But now, it’s past 11:30 p.m. and they are awake. (I broke up a fight about a blanket just a few minutes ago.) They will be sleeping at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow, I am sure of it.
And then Thursdays? They have to be up and ready for school-at-home by 8:30 a.m. (My third-grader has to leave the house by 8:10 a.m. . . . and his go-to-sleep time has shifted, too–I heard him in the bathroom at 11:00 p.m.! He’s been sleeping in until 9:00 a.m., too, a remarkably late time for him!)
All the parenting magazines and advice columns say to gradually shift the waking up time of your kids so they are back on track by the time school starts. I tried, I did, really. But alas, Thursday morning they’ll be waking up after a rather short night because I have not been able to get anyone to fall asleep at a decent hour.
I have a plan, though. Bacon. I’m going to fry bacon at 7:30 a.m. Thursday morning and if I know teenage boys, they’ll be at the table, inhaling the greasy goodness of bacon faster before I can even say “Time to wake up!”
At least that’s my plan.
By the way, over the summer, each of my kids grew a whole inch. And my son’s voice changed in the past two weeks. I’m living in a fast-forwarded life and I think I might be missing the good parts. Why is there no rewind button?
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Mmmm….Just found you. Good stuff. Y’know…I am not a morning person either, but my autistic child has arisen at 4 a.m. the past…oh…entirety of his 9 years!LOL. My 19 year old college sophmore sleeps DEAD until noon. THESE ARE THE BEST FREAKIN’ YEARS OF HER LIFE!! And as a good mother, I am sure to tell her that in those exact words! I’ll be baaaack.
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I hope the bacon works. it would for me! and I’m still in the up “too early” stage. I can’t imagine them sleeping in until 11:00!!
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Why is it that the summer ends SO fast and we don’t even see it coming. Those first mornings are the worst. It took 7 days, but today was our 8th day of school and my girls were both awake on their own by 7:00. I was beginning to think we would never get back on schedule! Good luck with Thursday morning!
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By the way, over the summer, each of my kids grew a whole inch. And my son’s voice changed in the past two weeks. I’m living in a fast-forwarded life and I think I might be missing the good parts. Why is there no rewind button?
Ahhhhhh THAT IS SOOO MY LIFE!!! I am not looking forward to the day my oldest is taller than me (which could be about any morning now, when he grows an inch in his sleep). I do feel like I am in “fast forward” and some nights as I collapse in bed, I wonder “I am suspose to be remembering all this, treasuring all this, they are going to move out soon”. But by the next morning I am running running running….
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Bacon is always a great idea… and the frying of onions. My granddad always said that if someone comes over and you offer them something to which they decline, start frying an onion and they will quickly change their mind, even if they don’t care for onions.
Up and at ’em is what I had to do as well. They get used to it over the next few days or so…
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As a non-morning teacher, I always had a problem getting back into the early morning routine too. Cuppa never tried bacon. Come to think of it, she was usually still in bed.
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My 13 year old has grown at least an inch, too! He has been having a hard time with the getting up in the morning, and trying to get to bed earlier – but his inner clock is stuck.
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My daughter always had to be bribed, pulled, shocked out of bed in the morning-always. Now at almost 21 she does get up in the mornings-but she is still very slow to get her mojo going.
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The high school and middle school kids on my street catch the school bus at 6:30am! The primary/elementary kids are on the bus at 7:30. Wow!
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Wait until they are older teens, they don’t sleep at night at all! lol. At least my 16 yr old doesn’t. We send him to bed by midnight, and he’s still awake at 4am…
Good luck with the bacon.
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