It’s 5am.

Really, it is not a big deal that I’m awake. I generally like this time of the morning, but usually it’s because I’ve been out all night. Not tonight- I went to sleep at 10:30pm and slept until “the grumbler” started his grumblings at around 1:30am. He has gone from “squeak box” to “the grumbler” pretty much overnight. I don’t have a song parody for the grumbler yet, but I suppose an obvious choice would be “The Gambler”. Though, I don’t think Kenny Rogers ever actually says “The Gambler” in the song. Or maybe he does:

“On a warm summer’s evenin’ on a train bound for nowhere,
I met up with the grumbler; we were both too tired to sleep.
So we took turns a starin’ out the window at the darkness
‘Til boredom overtook us, and he began to speak.”

It kind of works. Now to work on the chorus. And it’s going to need some work, alright.

“You got to know when to hold ’em, know when to feed ’em,
Know when to walk away and know when to run.
You never count your diapers when you’re at the changing table.
There’ll be time enough for countin’ when the poopin’s done.”

Ok, that was way less hard than I thought it would be.

I don’t admit this to everyone, but I might as well come out about it publicly. It’s one less skeleton in my closet to expose when I try to run for public office. Because THAT’S my next logical step.

My very first concert was Kenny Rogers. There, I said it. Sawyer Brown opened up for him at the Capital Center in 1983 and I was there. My mom had a friend who used to take me to events… I never really knew why. Maybe she wanted to be a “big sister”. Maybe she wanted to try out having a kid before she had any of her own. All I know is that I would get an invite to all sorts of things- A Christmas Carol at Ford’s Theater (2 years in a row), The Nutcracker at National Theater,  a Redskins game and Kenny Rogers. This also meant going to The American Cafe or The Old Ebbitt Grill in DC- where I would inevitably get the chili. This was also incentive as I really loved chili. While I loved music already, I was all about going to any concert, especially since I hadn’t been to a real one up until this point. Kenny Rogers was far from my first choice, but I have to say, concert on a school night? Yes, please. Chances are I hadn’t done my homework, and I probably wasn’t going to anyway.

I have to say, while I only knew a few songs (The Gambler and Lucille being most of them), it was an eye-opening evening for me. The lights- the sound system- so many people in one place to see one person. It was pretty amazing, and really got my dreams going. So, thank you, lady who took me places. And thank you, Kenny Rogers. But please, for the love of God- no more plastic surgery!

Back to this evening- he ate from 1:30am to about 1:50am, had a pleasant diaper change, and he went right back down. Good for him, I just wish I could go back to sleep that easily. I figured after trying to sleep for an hour, I might as well just try to stay up til the next feeding, and by then I’d be tired enough to get back to sleep. We’ll see, it’s approaching the 4 hour mark. Dag, I could have been sleeping all this time!

He’s stirring over there… the grumbler is in action. Listen as he stretches and groans and tries to wake up. Watch as he moves around, making his cradle rock, keeping him just on the edge of waking. This is better than Animal Planet.

Well, it’s now 5:35am. I knew when to hold him, knew when to change him. I didn’t have to walk away or run. I didn’t count any diapers when at the changing table, he drank his bottle, and the feeding’s done.

He’s already gone back to sleep.

Now the question remains…. can I?