A Break in the Morning
Some thresholds are so major you spend months looking forward to them -- first steps, first words, that sort of thing. Other thresholds fall into the category of mixed blessing, at best -- the first time Fiona showed she could unlock the front door, or the moment last month where I was in the office and suddenly heard the sound of the refrigerator door opening.
We hit one this week that isn't quite in the category of first steps, but it was a big one for us.
Lying in bed on Monday morning I could tell Fiona was wide awake. The clock read 6:59, and just like you might buy something at $19.95 that you wouldn't buy at $20, we do our best to stay in bed until at least 7:00.
Fiona announced "I want to get up."
"That number 6 is going to turn into a 7 very very soon," I replied. "As soon as it turns 7, we can get up."
Fiona sighed heavily, and I wondered if she was going to start crying. She got out of bed and headed to her room; sometimes when she wants to cry but doesn't want us to know about it (as opposed to temper tantrums where us knowing is the whole point), she retreats to her room. I figured that she'd pout for a little bit, maybe play with some stuffed animals, and I'd get an extra 5-10 minutes.
Instead, 20 minutes later I woke from a snooze and no sign of my daughter. I got up, poured myself a coffee, and walked into the living room...
...where I found Fiona, fully dressed, lying on the floor coloring one of her princess coloring books.
Oh blessed day.
The cynic in me would point out that Fiona did this on one of those days where she didn't have to go to preschool but I still had to get up for work, meaning a day where she could have slept in and I couldn't. But then she did it again this morning, so it wasn't a one-time fluke. Two-time, maybe; we'll see.
The amusing sidenote to all of this is that she's started wearing pants again instead of tights. For months we've struggled to put her in pants from time to time, forcing her to wear pants over her tights on cold mornings with the promise that she can take them off once we're done walking outside. Now that she's dressing herself from start to finish, it turns out pants are easier to put on than tights. So it's a double blessing, at least on 25 degree mornings.
We hit one this week that isn't quite in the category of first steps, but it was a big one for us.
Lying in bed on Monday morning I could tell Fiona was wide awake. The clock read 6:59, and just like you might buy something at $19.95 that you wouldn't buy at $20, we do our best to stay in bed until at least 7:00.
Fiona announced "I want to get up."
"That number 6 is going to turn into a 7 very very soon," I replied. "As soon as it turns 7, we can get up."
Fiona sighed heavily, and I wondered if she was going to start crying. She got out of bed and headed to her room; sometimes when she wants to cry but doesn't want us to know about it (as opposed to temper tantrums where us knowing is the whole point), she retreats to her room. I figured that she'd pout for a little bit, maybe play with some stuffed animals, and I'd get an extra 5-10 minutes.
Instead, 20 minutes later I woke from a snooze and no sign of my daughter. I got up, poured myself a coffee, and walked into the living room...
...where I found Fiona, fully dressed, lying on the floor coloring one of her princess coloring books.
Oh blessed day.
The cynic in me would point out that Fiona did this on one of those days where she didn't have to go to preschool but I still had to get up for work, meaning a day where she could have slept in and I couldn't. But then she did it again this morning, so it wasn't a one-time fluke. Two-time, maybe; we'll see.
The amusing sidenote to all of this is that she's started wearing pants again instead of tights. For months we've struggled to put her in pants from time to time, forcing her to wear pants over her tights on cold mornings with the promise that she can take them off once we're done walking outside. Now that she's dressing herself from start to finish, it turns out pants are easier to put on than tights. So it's a double blessing, at least on 25 degree mornings.
posted by BWC at
10:48 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home