Night Owls & Morning Larks

I’m a night owl. There’s no way around it—mornings are not my thing. Oh sure, I can drag myself out of bed for an early-hours conference call, and I’m sure I’ll be hitting the December 26th Post-Christmas sales bright and early. But for the most part, I prefer the afternoon, evening, midnight and beyond. Back in the day when I was working more as a writer, I did some of my best work at 2:00 AM. Last night… errr, this morning… I was awake until 5:15 AM reading.

So it was no great pleasure when Frankie and Win decided to offer me their cheery morning greetings less than four hours later. This is a daily pattern, for these kits are definitely morning larks – they love the dawn, rejoice in the twittering of robins and chickadees – the very things that I try mightily, with a pillow over my head, to avoid.

The boys’ salutations can run the gamut, starting with Franklin’s softly patting my cheek with a furry paw and Win putting his wet nose in my hand to beg an ear scratch. When unsuccessful, though, they move to less cuddly efforts, such as nibbling my fingers with pointy little teeth or—in extreme cases, which most mornings seem to inspire—sitting at the end of the bed, timing a synchronized pounce on my chest. (Seriously, I saw Franklin holding up a paw displaying four claws, then three, two, and one before they simultaneously leapt across several feet of air space to land on my stomach.)

I marvel at how two kittens of under three pounds each feel like a herd of twenty-pound chimpanzees as they scamper over my shoulders, race around my knees, or attack the monster under the comforter: my toes. I can’t figure out how this burst of energy seems always to occur before the night begins greying to dawn, the first songbirds warm up for their morning chorus, the earliest commuter bus passes, the thinnest rays of sunshine strike the window.

Early Morning Wrestling Match

It’s almost as if The Boyz find the quiet unsettling, that after having curled up with me at bedtime they just can’t rein in their energy long enough to last through a normal number of sleeping hours. I'm not sure what to do about it. A moratorium on kitty toys after 10 PM? Soft kitten-y lullabyes on the radio? A sleeping draught in their kibbles?

Oh look! I think I spy two kittens in their kitty tree, napping off the rigours of their early morning exercise session! *evil grin* I think I’ll go rattle their cage for a change!