Early in the morning, beyond our closed bedroom door, mysterious things happen. Sometime between 5 and 6 AM, a little baby begins to cry, like a rooster heralding the morning son. Not too much later, a two-year old steps out of bed, unable to open the door to his room, he begins to play with toys - most of which make some sort of sound - gradually awakening his brother - the keeper of the arcane knowledge of door knobs.
Eventually, the four-year old sage awakens and frees his brother; they step out into the shady hallway. They cross to our bedroom door and begin tapping and knocking, yelling to the dreary-eyed parents on the other side. Says the two-year old: "Iz mee! Bejambin!" These are the secret words that he has watched his older brother use to gain entrance to the parents' room. The four-year old has tired of this game and goes downstairs to watch early morning T.V.; after a few more failed attempts, the two-year old follows. All the while, the baby cries, "It's morning! I'm hungry! Where is my bottle?" to the brightening sun.
Then come the odd mornings, filled with excitement, because someone has broken with tradition and tried something new. Slamming linen closet doors in the hallway, for example. The best, though, has to be what we discovered, or rather, what the four-year old alerted us to a few days ago.
"Joshua took off his diaper," he said. These are words that will cast away the last vestiges of sleep in a single instant, accomplishing what otherwise would have taken another half-hour. Out of bed, jump the parents. Then:
"Joshua went pee-pees on the shoes!" Too late. Mother is first down the stairs and finds the puddle on top of the shoe cabinet, where a little monster climbed up, free from the bondage of his diaper, and proudly, probably somewhat confusedly, celebrated his freedom in a natural way. She's already cleaned off the worst of it by the time I make it down. I make my contribution by spraying Lysol disinfectant on this piece of furniture that I will avoid touching for the next several days.
Who needs an alarm clock?
11:40:55 PM 
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