Most weekday mornings, Miss M wakes up around 6:45.

Usually, 6:45 is simply too early for me to wake up because I stay up until about 11:30 or 12:00 compulsively checking just one more time to see if anyone has updated their blog or started a flame war on any of the 10,000 yahoo groups I read. Basically, around 11:30 I am still wide awake. 

At 6:45, I am desperate to cram in a few more minutes of sleep.  Because he is a trooper, A usually gets up with M each morning.  He takes her downstairs and feeds her breakfast.  Then they play. 

Somehow, the task of prying my lazy ass out of bed has fallen on A. It is a thankless task, because I am cranky, have no desire to wake up, and often fall directly back to sleep.  He finally hit on an effective strategy when he started bringing M into my room to ‘say good morning’. 

Some days, this is a pleasant way to wake up.  Most days, it is excruciating.  It is like being slammed from a peaceful slumber directly into the middle of a pre-school class at the speed of light.  I tend to prefer a slow and leisurely transition, but since it is better than the beeping of the alarm clock, I deal with it.

This morning, Miss M found a way to make my wake up even more unpleasant than usual.  She put her hands on my cheeks, kneeled down so we were nose-to-nose and then yelled: "Mommy!  WAKE UP!"

It scared the bejeezus out of me to say the least.  I sat straight up and began groping around for my glasses.  I must have looked especially discombobulated because A started laughing at me.

Then, in an effort to make up for scaring me so badly I nearly wet the bed, M said "Mommy, you are looking good in the neighborhood!"

At least someone thinks so at 8:00 a.m.

I am NOT a morning person.