Spring Forward
When I was little, the Queen Mum would tell me that “Falling Back Weekend” was her favorite all year. It was a 49 hour long weekend. Thus, by deduction, “Springing Forward Weekend” is her least favorite. I agreed with her. I loved the extra hour of delightful Sunday in the fall and hated the loss of that hour in the Spring. Then I had a child.
Not just any child, but a morning child. A child who most days is up bright and early at 6am and HAPPY. I don’t care if you are awake at 6am, but you are not permitted to be happy about it.
When he was a baby and in the early stages of sleeping through the night, he’d want to go down for the night at 4:30pm to 5pm. He was awake for the morning about 5am. As an August baby, I feared the falling back that October. Then I longed for the springing ahead in April. Oh, the thought that my small child would finally sleep to 7am, even if only for a week.
We rocked along like this for years. Duke managed to push his bedtime back to a more human hour and thus we settled on a wake up between 6am and 7am most days, with a rule on the weekends to not come into our room until 7am. It works for us. Prince is less than thrilled that Duke is up so early and I end up getting up to begin breakfast making before Prince has fully stirred, but we have it sorted out.
However, I still long to spring ahead. This past Sunday, my son didn’t wake me up until 7:55am (yes, I know it was 6:55am to my body and I went to sleep after midnight, but still) and I was joyful. The birds were singing and it was all good and wonderful.
So, until I get to sleep late again (like let’s say past 8am), I disagree with my mother. To me the best weekend of the year is springing forward because it ’seems’ like I get to sleep later — after all, the week after we fall back, Duke is up and ready to party at 5am!!!