The Wide Awake Club

I don't know if it is the lighter mornings, her skin being itchy or the fact that she still insists on wearing a nappy, but she is wide awake for the dawn chorus.

4am this morning I was changing her soggy nappy, creaming her skin and trying to get her to settle back down. "I want a muwky" (milky) is all she will say, and like a digital alarm clock, it gets louder and louder until, for fear of waking the rest of the house at such an ungodly hour, you hit the snooze button and give in "well just a little one". She always promises she will stay in bed with bear whilst I go downstairs to get it, and every time she is in the kitchen with me before the microwave beeps.

Then we have "I want Misser Maker" (CBeebies Mister Maker art show) which gets louder and louder until ... well just a quick one. It's no wonder I look like her grandmother dropping her off in the morning. I feel old and grey (skin not hair) and can't understand where she gets her energy. You would think she would drop like a stone after a fun morning eating playdough at pre-school but she can tough it out until gone 3pm which is when I need to get her sister and so have to poke her to keep her awake. A number of times I have been making their tea and realised she has finally crashed out about an hour and a half before bedtime, so after a nice refreshing power nap she is up and bouncing again and the last place she wants to be is bed.

Roll on the teenage years when I will have to prise her out of bed with a crow bar - only another fifteen years to go - yay!