Early Wake-Up Call

So, for the second day in a row, I am awoken by the lovely sounds of crying from the next room at 5:45 a.m. I left them until 6:30, hoping they would go back to sleep. The cries were intermittent, but became increasingly intense closer to 6:20. Those of you who are parents, may already know, that it's not the getting out of bed early that is so bad (although you wouldn't call it fun either) but it's knowing what lies ahead: a long day full of crankiness, tantrums and misery. And so it begins. It is now 8:43 a.m and so far, Emma has pushed Maddie off "her" bike (it is both of their bikes). Maddie has ripped Emma's soother out of her mouth and "hidden" it in the ottoman (that one was kinda funny, but I don't think Emma thought as much). Emma yanked the Monsters Inc. movie out of the dvd player because she wanted to watch Dora, and then threw the dvd and the case at me when I explained that we started to watch Monster, so that is what we will watch (Madison also wanted to keep Monster on - what can you do when they want to watch different things - sigh, we take turns)! Emma proceeded to go over to hit Maddie, but before she could make contact, I warned her that if she hits she goes right to the time-out stair. At this point, she threw herself on the floor (taking a pillow with her for her head) and rolled around, throwing her soother at me. Maddie decided that looked like fun, so I had both girls rolling around on the floor, kicking their feet, whining, with a look on their face that showed their utter dismay. Hmmmmm, maybe breakfast is a good idea right now. So, I get their breakfast and let them sit and eat it in their Dora chairs (I just don't have the energy to get them in their boosters at this point). Emma yells "I don't want it" and throws her cheerios on the floor, milk and all. Grrrrrr. What do you think Maddie does? Yep. Monkey see monkey do. So much for that distraction. At this point I am ready to throw them back into their cribs, put on John's ipod and return to bed. But they are saved by the neighbours dogs, who start to bark, and they run to the window to see them. Emma sees all the snow on the ground and says "oh my goodness, what happened" which sounds more like "oh my goo-ess, what happee?" They are now at the window, talking to the doggies and the snow, and smiling for the first time in 3 hours and looking very sweet. I think that is why toddlers are so cute. If they weren't, they would have been thrown outside in the snow with the doggies, right?