After Darkness Comes the Dawn

It is always this time in the morning that I can imagine what a "normal" life would be like. One of the littles and I were up early (which, in the summertime, is 8:30). He ate his breakfast while I posted new pictures on our artsy blog. Now he is "reading" his books to me as I type this.

Right now he is reading Oh, the Thinks You Can Think by Dr. Suess. "Hoovy, hoovy, hoovy, he thinks. Now he is in the water. And he likes the night. 'Do you like sharks?' said the guy. 'No, he doesn't.' 'Raaaah!' said the water. And he cried so much..." and so on. (You can read the book to see how close his paraphrase came to the actual text.) Other selections have included a story about a very hungry "duckel-ing", Clifford, and Veggie Tales (prompting him to sing, "doo doo dah doo doo, at the chocolate fact-tory!").

Squeaker and Lucky ran in with a cheery "Good morning. I love you." and a kiss for each cheek.Sparky and Drama Boy are still asleep. Our house is peaceful. It's a beautiful morning.

Contrast to the night before: Sparky was lurking around the girls' bedroom door and, when discovered, ran into the bathroom and locked the door. I told him to stop hiding in the bathroom since he was supposed to be in bed so he came out and immediately began telling me that he couldn't sleep because Drama Boy was hitting him. I followed him into their bedroom. He ran straight over to Drama Boy and began shouting mean things in his face. I said, "Stop. Stop. Stop! STOP!" with increasing volume and intensity. He finally stopped. But only to turn his venom on me.

He again refused to stop and refused to get in bed, now saying that he wanted to get water and why couldn't he just get water(?). I told him to stay in bed and I would bring him water because he was not allowed to leave his room.

"Hand me your cup."

"I don't have a cup." (wailing)

"You had a cup last night."

"What cup?" (angrily)

"Your Iron Man cup. Hand it to me."

Reaches for cup. "AAUUUGHH! OH MY G-D...WHAT IS THAT?!" (yelling) Falls out of bed, wiping hand on the carpet. "It has frog poop all over it!

Yes, it actually did. And now the carpet does, too. Drama Boy used Sparky's water cup to scoop water out of the frog's soaking bowl. Why? He's not saying.

Continued defiance from Sparky about washing frog poop off his hands and going back to bed.

Note to self: if you are tired and want the day to end and everyone to stay in bed, do not tell Sparky that he has a consequence for defiance. Wait until the next day.

A half hour later, he was still standing on the bannister singing an "I hate Ana" song of his own creation. Complete with guitar accompaniment. Such a clever boy.

And that's why I love mornings.