As different as night & day

A very late night and a very early day that is.

Peanut takes after her papa and is a night owl. We've always had her bedtime around 7:30 - 8:00 pm so she gets enough sleep and we get a chance to spend some quiet time in the evening. Though were it up to Peanut, she'd be bouncing around until well past 10 pm. Now, I know why it was so tough for us to get her to bed peacefully when she was a baby - she just wasn't ready to go!

Lately, she's built up her arsenal of stalling techniques and usually isn't in bed until around 9 pm! First there's bath time. Then after racing around naked for a while, she selects a nightgown. Then she wants to "play for a little bit". Recently, she's started asking for an evening snack. This to be followed by stories - "only 5 books tonight mama" she imitates Olivia the pig. Then, its potty time which usually requires her to go through another book. With that over, its time to brush and floss her teeth. Well, finally into her room and in bed! Then its "I need fresh water". Followed by "tell me the belly-button story" and finally good night.

In the meantime, little Tex has shut-down when the clock struck 7:30 pm. If mama & papa are not watching the time in the evening and we are all still downstairs after 7 pm, Tex has been known to head for the staircase himself and start to go up cause he wants to go to bed. He can barely keep his eyes open after bath time and we only on the rarest occassion hear a peep (OK, in his case, banging on the wall) of protest. He's been that easy to put to bed since the very first night he was home from the hospital. I remember being so amazed that he didn't need anything to settle down.

But, come 6:00 am, Tex is raring to go. While going to bed was a dream, waking up has never been pleasant. Tex basically turns on - opens his eyes and mouth to start screaming right away. Even though I'm a morning person, this has been one of the most difficult transitions since he arrived. There is nothing gentle, forgiving or relenting about his wake-up yell. It demands you wretch yourself from bed immediately and see what he needs. Plus, we know Peanut is not a morning person so we want her to sleep as late as possible.

Tex isn't one for cuddling with us in bed. We try to bring him in in hopes gaining a few more minutes of rest, but he's interested in banging on the window, wiggling about and getting us downstairs to get him breakfast -- NOW!!!!!!!!