Monday, March 1, 2010

Thine Eyes have Seen the Beauty


We keep promising ourselves we will do it. Starting tomorrow.

However, with everything that is going on in our lives right now, Mrs. LIAYF and I just can't seem to consistently get to bed before 11:00 PM. More often it's closer to midnight. If we are lucky, Lukas will sleep straight through until 7:30.

We are not generally lucky people.

So, this morning at 6:45 when it sunk into my brain that Lukas was in his crib calling "Daddy, I'm awake", my wife and I were both still in an utter state of sleepy exhaustion. Nevertheless, I gingerly pulled myself out of bed, opening the door to let the morning light shine brilliantly through from the guest bedroom window down the hall.

"You want to crawl into bed with Mommy and me?" I said to him, my voice full of gravel as my eyes fixed on a standing, mussy headed, grinning little boy. "Yeeeah!" he replied as I scooped him out of his crib and deposited him gently down between his mother and I before collapsing back into the warmth and comfort of the permanent indentation of my mattress.

After a few short-lived snuggles with mom and dad, he popped up, looked down the hall and out the window and proclaimed "Look, the sky is purple!". "It's more periwinkle" I managed to muster, then closed my eyes again. "I need to see it!" he excitedly yelled as he quickly slid himself down the side of our elevated bed and out the door.

As our son ran down the hall full of excitement, back to our room for a brief stop, then back down the hall to the window once again, Mrs. LIAYF mumbled something that I could only make out as "Don't you wish we woke up with that kind of energy?". The truth was that, yes I do wish for that kind of energy often these days, however all I could manage at the time was a barely audible grunt of affirmation.

Then, after Lukas had once again visited the guest bedroom window and stood on a old schoolhouse chair to gain a better perspective of the sunrise reflecting off the majestic snow capped Olympic mountains to the west, he once again hopped down and sprinted to back to our room.

"Come quick!" "Come, quick!" he implored. "You NEED to see the beautiful day!!"

And with that, yet another beautiful day of fatherhood helped to clear the morning cobwebs thus ensuring that I would start the week off with a smile.
-
Photo credit: orcmid from flickr creative commons

19 comments:

A Free Man said...

Beautiful post. I've been there. I don't know where that morning energy comes from. I struggle to even be civil until I've had a coffee, they just meet the day with a joy for life. Wonderful.

SciFi Dad said...

I would give my left nut if I had a kid who slept until 6.45am. Hell, I'd even go for 6.30am.

Great post, just made me jealous is all.

morethananelectrician said...

I'd be so tickled if any two of the three kids had a sleeping pattern that matched ANY of the other two...we have a mix of early risers and night owls. But, when the early riser comes in on the weekend and shares some time in the bed...it is normally fun. Nice post.

ericdbolton said...

I'm with SciFi.. I have no clue as to what luxuries you speak of when you mention 7:30.

Lady Mama said...

Beautifully written! I really enjoyed reading this. I don't remember the last time I woke feeling refreshed. Thank goodness my kids are cute.

Steve said...

I think that's one of the greatest (perhaps even THE greatest) of joys about having kids. They make you rediscover your sense of wonder at the world.

Oh, and get you to smile at 6.45am.

Ed said...

you NEED to see this

The wisdom of a child. Classic.

WILLIAM said...

Great post. My kids wake up at 5:30 so there usually is not sunrise to shine into the room.

Also, have you seen Sci Fi dads Right nut? He gave that for something else.

Homemaker Man said...

Nice post. We see the sunrise from our car window in the morning as we drive my wife in to work. It usually causes a long conversation about "where did the moon go?"

If I Could Escape . . . said...

Now, that made me smile!! Beautiful post!

Mrs. M said...

Once they are up you are done for, but you get props for trying to buy yourself just a few more minutes of shut-eye!

Playstead said...

7:30 AM with a two year old ... you are a blessed man.

Anonymous said...

No matter how hard I try I can never get to bed before 1am. I'm just thankful little man usually sleeps until 8am. Then again all of that is about to change in a few months.

Captain Dumbass said...

Hearing that would make mornings a lot easier around here. Somehow the demand for food and entertainment just don't work the same.

If I Could Escape . . . said...

I've tagged you over on my blog. It's actually a "twofer" so just ignore the whole handbag challenge ... unless of course you have a man bag and want to reveal its contents. =)

Keith Wilcox said...

I don't even know what periwinkle is! That's a color? :-)

Yes, it's a beautiful morning when the kids are so enthusiastic about it. I get to see the sun go down behind the rockies and you get to see it come up across the Olympic range. Fun.

Hey, how come I can't post this comment with Name/URL? has it always been that way? hmmm.

Anonymous said...

If you could bottle that energy up and sell it you would be a rich man.

Anonymous said...

eloquently written man... seriously...

Anonymous said...

I'm in the same boat. When did waking at 7am become a lie-in?!

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