Merry Sunshine

My mother often woke me up saying this little rhyme: "Good morning Merry Sunshine, what makes you wake so soon? You used to wake at 10:00, but now you wake at noon." I have always been the kind of person that pops out of bed when the alarm goes off. My kids have, for the most part, been more difficult to wake up. I do all kinds of weird things like gently touch their lips, ears, or face so that it tickles. I also do something my Dad used to do to me. I lay my hand on their stomach and ask, "Do you want me to move my hand?" They know that if they say yes I will move it...erm...tickle them, so they usually don't answer at all.

My Grandpa had two methods of waking people up. He would tell you once to get up, but if that didn't work, he resorted to other methods. He would either tie a string around your toe and start pulling until you got up, or he would get a nice glass of water to give you a morning shower if you didn't get up.

My two teenage sons go to early morning seminary every day. It starts at 6:30, so they usually pop out of bed at 6:15 and go in their pajama pants, then come back home to change before school. Since my son started driving, he has been more eager to wake up on time, and has been even waking himself up for seminary. They drag out the door every morning, but by the time they come home, they really are "merry sunshine". Usually when they walk in the door they are singing. This morning my oldest was singing and was very hyper. I tried to channel some of that energy by asking him to wake up my youngest son. What started out as a "get up!", quickly turned in to trumpet playing and teasing to wake him up. Although my kids always complain about how I wake them up, I can see they have inherited that genetic trait.