Just hit snooze

To say that Mark and I aren't morning people is a bit of an understatement. Well, actually, that's not 100% percent accurate--Mark pops out of bed at 7 a.m. just fine on weekends to play Wii. It's just the other five days a week he has trouble with.

Most weekday mornings at our house are a big grumpfest. They go a little like this.

Mark's alarm goes off. I can hear it through the monitor in my room.

Me, internal thought: Dammit. Maybe he'll turn it off.

He does not turn it off. Three minutes later, the clock radio in my room also goes off, and now Ryan Seacrest is annoying me from two different rooms. Reluctantly, I drag myself out of bed.

"Mark, time to get up."

No movement from Mark's bed.

"MARK, time to get UP."

Slight movement, still no acknowledgment. I groan.

"MARK, TIME TO GET UP NOW!"

The groaning comes from Mark this time.

"I don't wanna," he grouses.

"Me neither," I answer. "But it's time anyway. Get outta bed!"

He complies, but the battle is only half battle over. The other half begins--convincing Mark to do the same chores he does every other morning, but still seems to surprise him each day.

Mark: "I made my bed yesterday!"

Me: "Make it again."

Mark: "I picked up my floor last night!"

Me: "Pick it up again."

Funny, I never hear similar arguments on weekends. I imagine they'd go like this:

Mark: "I watched T.V. yesterday!"

Me: "So what? Go watch it again."

It got to the point that our mornings were so negative, we had a talk about it. Then we talked about it again 300 more times. Mark even began writing himself a daily reminder on the bathroom mirror:

Finally, we both agreed to work on the cranky factor so that we could start our days a little nicer. I also moved Mark's bedtime a half-hour earlier, and declared he must eat breakfast immediately upon waking. The results from that were nothing short of miraculous.

Now, instead of a grumpy kid, I have the exact opposite: Mr. Sunshine. Every morning, it's "Good morning, Mom! I love you Mom! Gimme a hug Mom! I LOVE YOU!! Wanna play?"

I didn't think there was anything worse that having two grouchy people in the morning. Turns out, it's waaaaay worse to have only one, and worst of all, to be that one. The only thing more irritating than a grumpy kid is an overly-happy one bouncing throughout the house before I'm fully awake or ingesting coffee.

Mark's still writing his daily "No grumpyness" reminder, but I don't think it's for him anymore. I think there's only one way to fix this new situation: put myself to bed a half-hour earlier, and eat my breakfast upon waking up, too.

Otherwise, I may choke out the new little happy morning person in my house.