Morning person, I am not

Have I ever shared with you just how much of a morning person I am not?

No?

Allow me to list the things I like to do less than wake up early:

• Watch horror movies
• Run/jog
• Deprive myself of chocolate
• Clean up vomit
• Litter
• Pick the shredded cheese out of a salad when I clearly told the server, "No cheese, please."

OK. There are probably many other things, like "watch one of my kids be sick and not be able to help," and "hurt people's feelings," but those kinds of things are givens.

Anyway, it is with that context that I confess: I did not get up this morning to get on the treadmill.

The kids were off from school for some reason, so we didn't have to get up to get them ready, and I decided to take advantage of the extra few minutes of quiet, warmth and comfy-ness. I can't even say I overslept. I was semi-awake but made a conscious decision to snooze. I made it exactly one day.  I suck at follow-through, yo. Especially at 6 a.m..

But OK - I am determined to do something to make up for it.

I just finished my lunch (a salad with tuna, and a very small cup of tomato soup. Not a French fry or a brownie in sight) and now I am going to go for a little walk around our building. It's not the same as power-walking on the treadmill, with my heart rate pumping. But it's something.

(Hmmm. Maybe I'll stop at the gas station on the corner and buy a pack of peanut chews. No! NO! Nooooooo!)

One more reason why potty-training stinks

Cary and Dean have handled potty training fairly well, I think.

After the initial bumps and fits and starts, they slowly got the hang of understanding when an "event" was about to happen, and taking themselves to a potty or a toilet to handle said event.

They were doing so well that we long ago moved the potty chairs from the living room. And just recently, the boys stopped using the little cushiony seat that sat atop the toilet.

Like big boys, they march upstairs when they have to go, scoot themselves up on the toilet, and handle all their events. (We still have to help with the clean-up after major events. But minor events they handle like old hands!) They are dry all day long, and I honestly can't remember when we had an accident -- even when we're out of the house for long periods and they have to wait to get to a bathroom.

All good, right?

Wrong!

The problem now is that they -- like most people -- have to pee first thing in the morning. And we have taught them that peeing in their overnight Pull-Up is not a good idea. THIS, they listen to.

So what happens? They wake up at RIDICULOUS times of the morning to pee. At first, my boys who used to sleep till 7 or even 7:30 started waking up at 6:30. Then it was 6. This morning, it was 5:35. Ay. Em.

And you know there is no way a 3-year-old can be awake without the entire world knowing about it. So we always wake up. I guess it would be irresponsible of us if we just let them wander alone through the house to hang out in the bathroom at 5 a.m., so I suppose they are doing the right thing by announcing that they have to go.

But dang!

Five-thirty A.M.? Really?

We even left one potty seat in their bedroom so they might use that one for overnight and wee-hours of-the-morning peeing. But they complained that it was too dark in their room to see the potty, which is why they just HAD to come get us to take them to the bathroom instead.

So we bought a little night-light. Problem solved, right? Plllbbbbt. What do they do now? Go in the potty, then come in our rooms to tell us that they've gone.

Why? Why? Why?!!

I was never a morning person, and becoming a parent has not changed that about me. Six a.m. wake-up times feel like death sentences to me. Five-thirty feels like a condemnation to hell.

Here's hoping they'll get the hang of this potty-in-the-room thing until they're old enough to get up out of their beds, take themselves to the bathroom, handle their events and go right. back. to. bed.
All without waking us up. 

Hmmm... what age would that be exactly?