The Five Stages of Grief...I mean getting out of bed

I am not a morning person. I have a REALLY hard time getting up before about 7:30am and most of the time I'd like to sleep until 9:00. This past week Casey and Katherine and I all went to visit Grandma and Grandpa, which is an eight-hour drive (or more precisely, an eleven-hour drive if you have a two-year-old) from where we live. We were heading back here on Monday and decided to get up bright and early so we could get back as early as possible. We set the alarm for 6:00am, which my college friend Annie used to refer to as the "butt-crack" of dawn. At least I think it was Annie. I don't want to slander anyone here.

As the alarm went off and I lay there contemplating alarm clock murder, I was struck with an epiphany. When becoming involuntarily conscious we go through the 5 steps of grief: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance.

Denial: "The alarm is NOT going off. It's not there. I'm covering my head with the pillow and it will go away."

Anger: "Why do I have to get up so *&%# early?? Who's stupid idea was this?" (it was actually mine, so I had no one to blame there....poo.)

Bargaining: "Ooh! I'll just hit the snooze alarm....about 40 more times. That'll buy me more sleep."

Depression: *sad groaning noises*

Acceptance: "All right, all right! I'm up!"

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross really knew what she was talking about. It even says on Wikipedia that the five stages model is a "process by which people allegedly deal with grief and tragedy..." And to me, there is nothing more tragic than being forced out of my nice cozy bed before I'm ready.



PS: In no way am I trying to be hurtful to people who are actually going through real loss, disease, etc. I'm not that mean.

My New Favorite Sport

Welcome to the Place Where Words Come Alive

So, I have a brilliant child. There's no denying it. Katherine is fabulously smart and I have PBS to thank for it. She loves those "learn to read" shows like "Super Why!" and "Word World." Word World is actually one of her favorites. The premise is that all the characters in the show are built out of letters and all the props--trees, fences, houses, you name it--are also built of letters. Each episode they teach a reading principle, e.g. S-H makes the sound "Shhh." And at some point during the episode they build a word with letters they acquire from somewhere (the post office? letters...post office, get it? haha I'm SO funny!) and the letters magically become whatever it is that they spelled.

The other night, Katherine saw a bug flying around the house and decided she wanted to catch it. She said she needed a net and a few minutes later came up to me with her bucket full of foam letters which we have been using to teach her the alphabet and phoenics. We spelled the word "net" together and Katherine began squishing the letters together. It took me a minute before I realized that she was trying to build a word the way they do on "Word World." She was getting so frustrated that her little foam letters wouldn't turn into an actual net. It was really funny watching her annoyance and confusion and I earned myself lots of mommy bonus points for not laughing at her. What a funny kid!