Tuesday, January 18, 2005

8:30 = Luxury

Yesterday I went to my friend M's house for a chat and some tea. She lives right around the corner from me, which is great fun since we are old friends and are both living in a different city than the one in which we grew up. M and I have been friends since at least freshman year in high school-- and this is starting to sound like an impressively long time.And although I love the city we are in, it's notoriously difficult to meet people here.

M has a baby, seven month old who is a real cutie pie. He seems good natured and easy going, just like M to tell the truth. His grandparents were there and I had more fun watching how they interacted with the baby than anything else. To be a little cliche about it, they doted on him and were clearly in love. M's dad was eager to come help when the babe started swim lessons ("Tell J I'll come and take pictures.") And M's mom-- well, I think grandma love is something special, and she's got it for this kid.

While I was there, M told us about how her baby is now waking up at 6:00 am and there's nothing she can do about. He's up and that's that. Sometimes she can sit in the rocker in the room, and he'll fall back asleep, but mostly, 6 am is his new wake up time. I sat on her couch and nodded, in a kind of detached psychotherapist way about this information, trying to appear neutral, but all the while my brain was racing. Six am! Six am! For good! For good! I'll have to get up at six am if my own baby does this. And our baby probably will!

Uhhheeeug.

I know that babies wake up early. Or wake up when you want to be asleep is probably more to the point. My youngest brother is 10 years younger than I am, so I remember his baby years quite well. He used to wake at 4 am for the day. At the time, my mother was smoking (gasp!) and she said she'd go downstairs with baby brother, have two cokes and a pack of cigarettes before the sun even came up. Once the paper delivery person knocked on the door at 5:30 am. Her car had gone kaput down the street, and she walked back to our house because she knew that mom was up every morning and she knew she wouldn't be waking anyone up. (And also that mom would not be scary!) The only reason my mom tells this story is because of the paper delivery person; that is the only out of the ordinary fact. Not that Brother 2 woke up at 4 am, for the day.

Partner and I like to sleep. It's 8:40 on a weekday, and I only just hear her shuffling down the hall. I usually get up a bit earlier, and on the days I teach, I am actually out of the house by 6, but that's twice a week. In the summer, I am up really early, but in the dead of winter we are like two hibernating bears.

I hope we have a little cub who likes to hibernate too. Otherwise, we just need to move someplace warmer.

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