a morning visitor

We had this sweet routine going on at the Hernandezeseses (well, sweet for me anyway). I'd get out of bed a little earlier, scarf down a bowl of cereal, then take Norman for a walk. Papa got to share a little quality time with the boy, waking up with him, feeding him breakfast and maybe even building a marble run or two.

But lately, that plan has gone by the wayside. As soon as the little man hears me make my way down the stairs, he yells for me. "MAMA! I want to eat breakfast with you....!" While I'm very flattered that he wants to share this meal with me, and I'm happy to do it, it kind of throws off my morning flow. So my little puppy (the role he usually assumes in the morning) and I go downstairs, make his breakfast, we eat together, then I get a later start walking Norman.

Last night we were driving home from the cousins' house. From the back seat I hear, "Mama, when it's close to morning, can I come into your bed." Since I'm very curious where this is going, I agree to it. I ask him about the details, will he just walk to our bed and climb in? No, apparently mama is to wake him up when it's close to morning and bring him into the bed. I'm still a little puzzled about what brought this on. So I tell him, if he wakes up close to morning and wants to come to our bed, he can just walk over and tap us on the shoulder and we'll lift him up.

So this morning, on schedule, we hear him sort of whining and moaning in his bed at about 6 am. This usually means he is tangled in blankets or wants someone to cover him up. Ed goes in to check on him and carries him back to our bed. Surprisingly, he immediately falls asleep between the two of us and since Ed's getting the brunt of his kicking and pushing, I'm thinking it's kind of nice. About an hour later, I wake up and start to put my dog-walking clothes on, and as if responding to some sort of alarm, Elian jolts out of his sleep and says, "MAMA! I want to eat breakfast with you!"