Summer Mornings

 

 

This little turkey, she makes a great alarm clock. Actually, I should call her a little rooster! She wakes us up between 6:30 and 7:30 by calling to us from her crib in her room. Sometimes she wakes up crying, but often she just calls out to us in her surprisingly loud and curt tone, "Mom! Mom! Mom!" or every once in a while, I'll get lucky and she'll shout "Dad! Dad!"

 

When we go into her room, we prop her door open (for some reason that one door always swings closed, so we keep a door stop just inside her room), then we turn off her sound machine. She doesn't like a wet diaper, so she wants it off right away. (She also knows that if she has a poopy diaper during the night, we'll get her up and change her. I think she's not always sure when it's morning and when it's still night time, so if she wants to get out of bed, she tells us she's poopy, even when she's not.) After turning off her sound machine, we walk to her crib and she reaches for her diaper and says "poopy" or "poopies". She leans over the crib rail as we reach for her, falling into our arms. She lays her head down on your shoulder, wraps her tiny little arms around your neck and gives the best snuggle ever. Typically we bring her into our room and plop her onto our bed. She wants to be undressed immediately and she lays down on our pile of pillows. She gives the very best morning snuggles and if Cliff is awake and in bed, she'll crawl over to him, plop down heavily on his tummy and lay her head on his chest and say "Nuggo. Daddy Nuggo." as she snuggles daddy.  

 

 

These little curls? They get me every time! They're soft and whispy and sweet as can be.

As soon as she's decided she's finished snuggling, she is quick to ask for the TV to be turned on. She used to call the TV a "Tee", but she has recently tried harded to say TV and instead calls it a "bvee-bee." She gets to climb around on our bed and watch Curious George for 15 minutes while we get dressed for work.

 

She loves to play in the curtains, roll around on the bed, bring us books to read, play ring-around the rosie on our bed until she gets dizzy and loses her balance (gives us a hear attack!) and watch TV in the mornings! She always comes in and checks on us if one of us is in the shower, which nearly always results in a puddle of shower water on the floor. She is a little turkey!

 

 

ring around the rosie

 

 

 and she's as sweet as can be

 

 

 When Addison is done playing in our room she wants to do one of two things, "EAT!" or "OUTSIDE!" The girl is an outdoorsman through and through. The only thing more fun that being outside is eating! Sometimes she wants to do both! "Eat. Peas. Ow-tide. Peas." Hey, she's got her manners down! Everything these days is followed with a please, or "peas" as she says. Soon Gavin gets up. Sometimes he comes up as we're getting ready for the day and sometimes he sleeps late. When left on his own, he sleeps until anywhere from 7:30 to 9:30! When he wakes up on his own, he is nearly always in a great mood, full of snuggles and ready for the day! This guy needs his sleep!

 

On these beautiful late-summer mornings, you'll usually find us out on the front porch first thing. The kids are often snuggling our kitten or our dog, or both, and are often eating breakfast at the same time! 

 

I'm savoring these mornings. Even though I still need to go to work most days, the summer mornings are something special. They're slower-paced, more relaxed. The kids usually get to stay home with a babysitter, they don't have to be fed, dressed, and out the door. The sun is up early and I have time to enjoy a cup of coffee before I have to kick into high gear. It's lovely. Soon school will start. Addison has already started daycare for the school-year, so I'm out the door with her way earlier than I'd prefer in the mornings. I thank God each day that I got to have a three-day weekend with these two every single week this summer. I'll miss our Friday "stay-home days" when Gavin's starts school next week! I guess I'll savor our weekends even more! I love fall. I'm looking forward to the kids getting back into a routine. I think the slow pace of a summer at home has really been good for them though! They're both going to grow and change so much this school year! I'll cherish these sweet summer mornings forever!