The Pre-Dawn Chorus

There is a reason why early morning birdsong is called the dawn chorus. It’s because it happens at dawn of course. But there is an eerie silence about an hour before the birds kick off. I know this because the little Madam, SHE who must be obeyed, has now decided that this pre-dawn chorus hour is now the perfect time to wake up and scream for attention. We’re talking four-flipping-thirty-flipping-am!!!! The human body is clearly not designed to function at this ungodly hour. While Aimee runs around like it is midday, I slump onto the sofa and whinge, snooze, awake in panic in case she has hurt herself, then snooze etc until the cavalry (Cat and Dylan) arrive.

The problem is not so much the earliness, it’s the terrible practice I make of snatching a quick nap prior to going to work. It kills my body clock, and I am groggy all day at work. The online and textbook advice suggests it is a passing phase and maybe we could tweek her hours with less daytime sleep and other measures.

Yesterday Cat took the kids to their very first Easter egg hunt. A fellow Mum organised one at her house for 8 or so toddlers to seek out the highly prized chocolate goodies. Previously, we've been very good at barring Aimee from sweets or chocolate. We don’t give them to her and she doesn’t ask. This could all change since she now has the taste for it. Lots of it. In fact, on the day, she must have eaten the equivalent to 2 or 3 whole milk chocolate eggs - yeah the big ones. Subsequently Aimee became hyped up, with mad tantrums couple with excessive bursts of energy and a strange babbling, delirious ‘high’. It was terrible, and putting her to sleep took about 3 hours. From now on, chocolate will be restricted to being only mummy and daddy food.