The 5 Phases of Morning

Chloe has always been a late riser. Even when she was a newborn and would scream all night, she would always sleep from 7am to 11am. I remember sitting up in bed with her just watching the clock all night long waiting for 7:00 to come because I would get a solid couple hours of sleep. Even now that she sleeps long stretches at night, she's still my teenage baby who I have to roust out of bed in the morning. I never let her sleep beyond 9:30, and I do it in what I call the 5 Phases of Coco.
Phase 1 is when I come into her room, open her pink curtains and pivot her blinds so that her room is filled with morning light. That never is enough to wake her up so after 10 minutes I move into Phase 2. I open her door all the way and turn the hall light on. Phase 2 is successful some of the time but not always. Phase 3 is when I flick her bedroom light on. Usually this is enough to wake her up naturally and I let her flop around in her crib for a bit before getting her. As long as I don't force her awake she'll be in a good mood and give me her morning "Oh hi, ma!" face.

We spend a few minutes grinning and chatting with her reflection in her bedroom mirror. She always looks at herself like "My God! I'm gorgeous!" It's kind of like her version of Blue Steel.


And then I take her downstairs for a diaper change on the Poop Deck (ie the downstairs changing table) and she flops about with Egor the Elephant in her activity gym. It's always nice when I have a happy morning baby.
BUT if Phase 3 fails then we moved into Phase 4. This is where I stand in her room speaking at full volume in an attempt to wake her up. Sometimes she stirs, but if not then Phase 5 is deployed where I gently shake her while speaking. That never results in a happy morning baby, she's usually mad in that case.

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