The Best Part of My Day

I've never been a morning person. It usually takes at least 30 minutes for me to wake up, even after I've done all the things that help people wake up (shower, brush teeth, dress, pack lunch, etc) before leaving the house. This is what a commute is for, to slowly get me ready for the day.

For the first few months of our relationship, Josh would drive me into work. Now Josh is Mr. Sunshine and Energy in the morning, full of pep and wanting to interact. I am against all interactions until I have had time to wake up (with or without chemical stimulation). So he would engage, I would snap, he'd get hurt, I'd apologize, ad infinitum. Finally, I explained to him that Morning Caitlin was supremely Monkey Brained, and I wanted silence and to stop having to apologize every day. Since then, most mornings have been just peachy.

Here's the thing: parenthood doesn't give a crap about what time is good for you. Toddlers don't understand that evening may be a better time to be with Mama. Toddlers don't understand Monkey Brain.

Working parenthood for our household means that evenings are chaotic. By the time we get home, it's time for Jacob's dinner, bath time, pajamas and stories. Lately, he's been a real two year old fusspot and is sometimes cranky and overtired, so the above routine gets sped up.

The morning, though? Ahh, the morning. If we get up closer to 5:30 then 6 (in which case there is the showering, diaper-changing, dressing, lunch-making madness to get to the 6:51 train), the morning is loverly. Sometimes we'll read Night Chicken (In the Night Kitchen) three or four times. Sometimes Jacob will come into our bed and pretend to fall asleep again or roll around and cuddle/wrestle, abusing our Obama action figure by pulling off his "hair".

The thing is that even though it's only about 15 minutes, it feels like forever, and it is a wonderful way to burn off the fog in my mind. These days, this former night owl is chirping with her chickadee. At least until she falls asleep on BART.