Morning people and night owls

Apparently we've got one of each. Eli is a morning person and Tobey is a night owl. No surprise: Tom and I are one of each too.

I recently have been thinking about this because Eli can sometimes wake up in the morning on the early side. And when he does, I literally sigh/moan in bed wishing he would sleep in more. And although saying, "Mommy....Moooommmmeeeee!!" is infinitely better than the crying that he used to do, the energy with which he does it after waking up is just so jarring to me. And if you have to wake him up, he looks up, sees you, stands up immediately and starts walking as soon as you put him down outside his crib.

Now watch Tobey wake up in the morning and it's like watching me at 4 years old. You walk into Tobey's room while he's sleeping and he doesn't even know it. You gently call his name, he doesn't move. You sit on his bed and rub his arm, he doesn't move. When he does finally come out of his slumber, he opens his eyes, glares at you, stretches his arms, rolls over and goes back to sleep.

But so the early waker is the early sleeper. We have hardly had any problems, since birth or 3 months even, putting Eli down to sleep. Even now, if he has a late and long nap, 3-6PM, you can still put him down at 8:30 or 9 without a peep.

And the late waker is the late sleeper. Granted, Eli is still in a crib so we haven't experienced the nighttime pop ups with him, but one of the more frustrating events of the day is if Tobey doesn't want to go to sleep. Kids bedtime is when I let my hair down and relax and THE LAST thing I want is a kid coming out of his bed making excuses. But when he finally sleeps at 10:30, well, that explains why he is so groggy at 7:30.

So what got me thinking about this was because one morning Tom asks me, "What was it that Mater says to Lightning McQueen the morning he wakes up in the impound?" And I said, confidently, "G'mornin', sleepin' beauty!" Armed with that information, Tom marches into Tobey's room before school and says brightly and loudly, "Mornin', sleepin' beauty!!" Had I known this was what he was planning on doing with said information, I wouldn't have told him so as to spare my firstborn from annoying morning people. Of course Tobey barely budges. I warn Tom, "Don't you ever wake me up like that!" To which Tom rebuts, "I know better than that, you'd probably bite my head off." Smart man.