Sleep Issues

So I've talked about food issues here, but I haven't discussed (publicly in this manner) much about sleep.

We are sleep-freaks at our house.

So much so, that the neighbors gossip, tease and make fun of us in all sorts of ways.

We don't mind.

A few years ago, for her seventh birthday or so, Nine (then Seven) got an American Girl Doll for her birthday. It was Kit, the depression-era girl who also came with a lovely set of books that introduced at all that cool econ-nerd depression-Era ideas and terms like Keynes, FDR, WPA and the CCC.

At least that's how they sold a $100 doll to me anyway.

We noticed within the first week that her mood, by the end of the day, was deteriorating at an incredibly rapid rate. She was getting crankier and shorter with us by the day.

Then BioMom noticed a correlation between her moods and the rapidity through which she was moving through the book set, despite the fact that we hadn't seen her reading much during the day between school and activities.

Then we figured it out.

She was getting up at 4 a.m. to read the darn things!

And that didn't go away. Overtime we had to give in to the horrible fact that we had a (gasp!) morning person on our hands!

Both BioMom and I mourn this difference. We are both late nighters, relishing the spoils of life that occur after sundown, and preferring to sleep later into the day, avoiding the early hours if possible.
She always gets up early, but we can predict with frightening accuracy how good or bad the day will be relative to a reported wake-time that is greater or less-than 6 a.m.

And we know that after a special occasion that warrants a late bedtime (anything after 7:30 or 8) that there will be several days of a 4-5 a.m. wake time: the later she stays up, the earlier she gets up.

This has changed our behavior dramatically over the years. All summer long her friends would be out running through the neighborhood at hours that approached and exceeded double-digits while she was snoozing away in her bed.

We turn down play-date requests after 6 p.m.

We don't usually share babysitters and go out with a couple, unless we can separate the kids at bedtime.

Nine has evened out (getting up between 6:30 and 7:00) recently -- perhaps in her tween years she is preparing for the hibernation that we are hoping for in her teens -- until recently.

What changed?

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Who can blame her?