Trying Something New

Every once in a while, I get this dire need to try something new. Sometimes it's trying to figure out how to crochet without squares turning into giant triangles, sometimes it's diet related, and this time... This time it's trying to figure out this whole "morning person" gig.

By nature, I'm a night owl. It's what I do, and it has been for ages. I go to sleep late-late-late, and I have our entire schedule shifted to accommodate that. I do my best work and thinking at night. I feel more creative, more focused, more capable at night. I don't have the horrifying grogginess of early morning at 2am, I have it at 6am. And yet, here I am, trying to sort out this early morning gig.

Generally speaking, this should be an easy thing. I should be able to just set an alarm, get up with it, and go to bed when I'm tired. That's how most of the rest of the world works, after all.  And yet, as with everything else in this house, it's never quite that easy. Why not? Because KIDS.

Mad Natter has his own room. He has his own cool room, with Super Mario sheets and decals, a trampoline, and a tent. He has Minecraft torches and a regular nightlight in there. And yet, in the wee hours of the morning, he comes clambering into The Big Bed with Skeeve and me. Generally, not too big a deal, but therein lies the problem. I'm not sure what it is, but something inevitably wakes Mad Natter quite quickly once I've left the bed. So, essentially, in my efforts to become a morning person, I've lost 90% of my "doing things I want to do" time. Instead of having the time from 9:00 (when bedtime routine is finished and the bedroom door closes) until 2:00 to do whatever I want to - including reading, knitting, and watching Doctor Who - I end up going to bed around 10 (after getting schoolwork set up for the next day). I wake up at 7:30, and sure enough Mad Natter is on the move about 15m later (for the record, this 15m thing is also the case if I get out of bed at 6am, or if I don't get up until 9am).

I go from being parent-on-point from the moment I wake up until 9pm, then having five hours free to do my own thing to being parent-on-point from within half an hour of waking until 9pm, having a grand sum total of 1.5h of "mom" time - and much of that is spent preparing for the next day. I assume Mad Natter will sleep again sometime, and then this morning person gig might be worth it. But do I really want to keep with it for another six or more years waiting? I suppose time will tell, won't it?