Morning People vs. People Who Aren't

6YO took this picture of herself. I just found it. I never know WHAT I'm going to find on my camera when I go to use it!

As happy and sweet as this child might look in this picture, she is NOT A MORNING PERSON. In fact, some mornings her head spins and everything! I've walked into her room to wake her up in the morning and heard this demonic, gravelly voice booming, "GO AWAY!" Seriously. And it doesn't matter if she gets to bed early enough or any of that. What matters most is that she has something look forward to in the short term. As in, something she really wants THAT MORNING. For instance, the first morning she was going to be able to ride the bus (beause we do, in fact, have a new bus driver. YIPEE!!!) she popped up on her own at 6:30 and had herself dressed and ready to go in a matter of minutes. As a matter of fact, she even asked if she could make her own lunch that day! She did a pretty good job, too. I guess she's hired!

It's really hard tough to come up with something every single day that will quiet the demonic voice inside of this otherwise sweet kid. She shouldn't need something to look forward to (Okay...BRIBERY!) just to be nice to people. She should just learn to be nice on her own. Because she should.

Then, there's 13YO. She IS a morning person. She has bounced out of bed happily almost every morning for years. (Yes, the rest of us don't always like her!) She is perky and happy and bright and...she can push every single one of her 6YO sister's buttons without even trying. Needless to say, the conversations around the breakfast table can often be hateful but are almost always entertaining.

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"STOP LOOKING AT ME!"

(That's one of my personal favorites!)

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13YO-"Are you excited to go to school today?" (She knows her sister is not a morning person and she still insists on asking her this question almost every morning.)

The response from 6YO is always the same: "NO! STOP TALKING TO ME!!!"
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I know that 6YO should be nicer to us, but I also know her usual response to things. So does 13YO, so I can't help but be irritated by her most of the time when she insists on asking the same questions KNOWING what the response will be.

Then again, what are siblings if they aren't someone to fight with?

I don't necessarily like mornings either. In fact, most mornings every cell of my being is telling me NOT to get out of bed. But, I have grumpy children to wake, cereal to pour and lunches to make. And it's much easier to get through all of that when given enough time.

It's gonna be a looooong school year, isn't it?