Waking up

The kids all have their own distinct ways of waking up. Sam, almost every day, comes into Jason and my room at 6:30. That's when his clock turns yellow. I have no idea how long he's up prior to that time; occasionally when I get up before that time and peek in on him, he's already awake and other times he's not. Anyway, he comes in at 6:30 and sometimes he excitedly says, "This is your morning wake up call!" Other times he comes over to my side of the bed and asks to get in and cuddle for awhile. Other times he goes into the bathroom or closet if Jason is in one of those places getting ready. Regardless, Sam is a morning kid. He's happy, wide-awake and in a good mood. Unfortunately, I don't always greet him with such enthusiasm as I'm not quite so excited at 6:30 in the morning. But he's a good sport.

Matthew wakes up a little differently from Sam. While he used to get up really early, he now gets up a bit after Sam. And he's generally not as chipper as Sam either. Matthew is a slow-to-warm-up kid. He takes his time easing into new situations and getting comfortable with new people and he eases into his day as well. And don't you dare approach him in the morning before he's had an appropriate warm-up time which means that he has had plenty of time to lay in bed, sucking on the tags on his blanket for awhile and he will get up when he's ready. Often Matthew screams and hollers in the morning for Mommy or Daddy to come see him as he waking up and I've tried in the past to send Sam in to tell Matthew that he can come into our room. To which Matthew responds with a tirade of angry words for his brother. Sam doesn't go in to see Matthew in the morning anymore. Once Matthew has his warm-up, he's a chipper, quickly dressed kid and ready to go, but before then, you'd best stay away until your summoned.

Abby is much more gentle in her waking up. She generally doesn't make a peep in the mornings and the only way I know she's awake is that I can hear her bed creaking as she's rolling around. When I do go in to get her (anytime between 7 and 7:30), she usually greets me (or Jason) with a quiet, "Hi Mommy" or "Hi Daddy". Sometimes you'll get a gentle "Get me out." It's a simple command and is obeyed quickly. Other times, Sam wants to go in to "get Abby up" and he goes into her room and gets her riled up for the day. On those days, Abby usually ends up holding onto the side of her crib and excitedly jumping up and down as Sam is jumping up and down next to her bed (sometimes Matthew goes in to greet Abby too and they all have a jumping and hollering wake up).

 And I wake up, usually by Sam (occasionally by Jason when he gets up to get ready for work), at 6:30.