Sunrise Cuddles

After having kids, you'll never have to set an alarm clock- ever again (at least until they are teenagers I suppose).
My mornings begin a little after six (sometimes before depending on the day) when my three-year-old saunters into my room, his favorite blanket tucked in his arms along with as many stuffed animals as he can carry. I pretend I don't hear him, that he's just part of my dreams. Sometimes he'll climb up the side of our king size bed, usually asking for assistance, and snuggle under the covers with me for a few minutes. That's when I take it all in. I know those moments are growing more and more few and far between. He never waits longer than five minutes to start his prodding, after all he's had ten hours of energizing sleep, he's ready to rev the engines of PLAY! "mommy... it's light outside," he usually begins with, "it's time to get up, come Onnnnn!" Sometimes, if he's really eager, he'll pull the covers off, or even worse, turn the light on. Our bedroom is like a sweet hibernation cave due to the cardboard in the window that we put up when Martin started his night shift. I groan and moan as my little guy pulls me out of bed, but secretly I'm enjoying every bit of it. Who else gets such a wake up call, with someone just longing to be with you wanting to start their time with you at the mornings first instant?
As soon as we are out in the living room where the sun's rays shimmer through the windows, he says, "See told ya... it's light outside!" and smiles with his whole face. I sigh and rub my eyes. "You're right," I say, "I guess it's time to start our day."
The problem is, I've never been a morning person. I dream about staying in bed all day... or at least until sometime reasonable (especially on Saturdays, but that's another thing about kids- they don't understand the concept of "Saturday" so yes, even on the weekends us parents get up at six). I've learned to adjust. In fact, I can hardly sleep past 7:30 on the occasions when Martin is home and gets up with the boys. But I know the ironic truth: someday I will miss these early mornings, the prodding, the exclamation that the sun is in fact up, therefore we must get up too, and most of all the sunrise cuddles.