Today's Early-Rising Fun

I got up early this morning to get a workout in before getting ready for and heading to work.  Early was not as early as I had intended when I set my alarm and went to bed last night; but it was early enough to do a half hour's worth of damage, and, really, early enough to do so alone.  It was 5:40am when I got out of bed, and 5:45am by the time I was heading out my bedroom door to get it started.

I had barely stepped through the doorway to my bedroom when I almost bumped into Cal.  Not startled by me at all, he didn't skip a beat and announced, "Mommy, guess what?"

"What?" I asked, showing as much interest as I could muster AT 5:45AM, which was about as much interest as I muster when he talks about his Pokemon cards.

"There are only TWO undefeated teams!" he declared right away.

After spending some brain cycles on figuring out what season we were in (afterall, it was 5:46AM at this point), it clicked... football!  Before I could even remember which teams played last night and who it could've been who fell, he told me, "the Bengals lost!"

News to me!  Cal has a clock radio in his room now and listens to it when he goes to bed and when he wakes up.  Surely, he had just learned of this information minutes before running into me.

"So what are the two undefeated teams, then?" I was fully engaged now and actually knew this answer.  So did Cal.

"The Patriots and the Panthers," he answered, immediately.

"That's right, Baby Bear!"  I'm sure he said something about Odell Beckham, Jr. (somehow every football conversation with Cal involves good ole Odell) after that, and then I turned toward the stairs and announced to him that I'd be getting a workout in.  As I started down the stairs I noticed that Ella was also up and going potty in the bathroom, door wide open.  I continued down the stairs without acknowledging her because I had some working out to do and didn't want to get sucked into a conversation about whatever it is that Ella might want to talk about at 5:47am, not to suggest that there's ever a conscious theme or scope for what she has to say.

I was about halfway through my workout when Cal emerged on the landing of the stairs to the basement.  Now, I don't mind a little company when I work out, but my kids talk a lot... I mean, A LOT... incessantly, really.  Both of them.  About anything and everything. Not only was it way too early to be having any substantial conversation; but I was doing a lower body workout, the kind where you have to count repetitions.  I could not participate in much of a conversation and still count, even to 12.  So I really wasn't sure how welcome Cal's company really was.  And not long after he had made his way to the basement, Ella was there, too, both of them talking up a storm as I squatted and lunged and raised.

Turns out, while distracting and loud, it was fun -- they were entertaining and fully interested in what I was doing.  Cal announced ridiculous things like, "I can lift 100 pounds all the way up to my head," while Ella grabbed a couple of two pounders and did squats herself (after a little instruction from me).  They both hopped on the not-moving treadmill and pretended to run on it... together.  There was no fighting, a lot of talking, and a little too much bravado from my first born.  The best was when Cal came back to earth and said he could lift the 35-pound dumbbell because "Ella's 38 pounds and I can lift her," and proceeded to pick her up off the ground to demonstrate.

So while I entered the morning thinking I'd have some quiet, alone time, I ended up having some quality time with my kids doing what I enjoy and what I enjoy showing them I enjoy.  I've been working a lot of hours lately (thank you, Leatherkids and Leatherdaddy, for understanding), and this has taken away some of my opportunities for quality time and sometimes general patience with them; so to have some unexpected interaction and fun with them in the wee hours of the morning today, I am happy.  I think they were, too.