Wake up sleeping beauty, wake up...

Victoria takes a loooonnnnggg time to get up. She's like an old automobile, where you need to turn the ignition a few times before the engine cranks up, then allow it time to warm up before it can move... slowly.

She's never been an early riser, since toddler but her brother William is just the opposite. Eversince birth, William has been consistently waking up 7am-ish, and only sometimes past 8am due to a late night or disturbed sleep. Once aroused, William would quickly sit up and then stand up in his cot, and he'd look as if he's ready for some action. I hope he continues like this.

If I say the brother is an early bird, then Victoria is a night owl. She is our energizer bunny who can skip her afternoon nap and yet last till midnight, given a normal day at home. Everynight, it's not unusual to hear us telling her to sleep, sleep, close your eyes, go to sleep now. In the morning, we allow her 10-15minutes of gentle coaxing time, before drastic action is taken, eg make her sit up, take out her socks, some angry words.

This morning, I am secretly amused again at how she try to squeeze in a little more sleep, if only for another 5 seconds. With her eyes still closed, she mumbled, "you get the towel first" when I told her to wake up. Then, she'd say, "you take my toothbrush first" still lying down with her eyes closed.

Look, we're already late, Victoria... GET UP!!!!!

It's tough to get through the first hurdle... getting her to open her eyes. Then the second hurdle, is to make her sit up. The 3rd hurdle is to get her to open her mouth to allow me to brush her teeth. All these... whilst she's still sitted on her bed. Sometimes when I walk away a bit, she'd lie back down. Haiyaaa!

Once I've gotten over the 3 hurdles, then it's easier as she will walk to the bathroom, gargle with the water that I prepared by herself, then sit on the throne to shi shi and clean herself up. Then dressing her takes less than 3 minutes.

The brother plays or watches. Sometimes he ask to be carried. Other times, he's most understanding. We even tell him to pick a socks for Jie Jie and he does just that.

Next year we will all have to wake up much earlier.