A note from the Cockerally Challenged.

Who ARE these people that get up early and enjoy it? I would really like to know. Of course we find out who they are eventually, as they cannot bring themselves to hide their smugness at seeing in the "best part of the day". But who made the rule that dawn is the pinnacle of daytime. Is it all downhill from there?

I'm not a morning person. I was when I was a child, I distinctly remember being up at the crack of dawn to sneak downstairs and watch the cartoons on a Saturday morning. Back when children's TV was on for a couple of hours each day on two channels. I would take my duvet with me and make a little camp in the living room while my parents had a lay in.

Then the hormones kicked in at 12 and I became the inevitable teenage sleep monster. My parents would despair and I would make up an imaginative array of headaches and "girl problems" in order to be left in peace to enjoy my snoozy sanctuary.

Now I have reached the upper echelons of responsible adulthood. Married with children and a serious job. According to all of my childhood observations, I should have metamorphasised into a sprightly, irritating Morning Person. Leaping out of bed at seven on the dot to whip up a delicious breakfast treat for my husband, aided by my eldest child in his Thomas The Tank pinny. Off to the park for 8am sharp so the kids can play on the swings while the dew is still wet on the grass.

Except that is about a million miles away from me. I'm sure it's not laziness, the mind is willing, but it seems that my body is weak. I was recently diagnosed with an endocrinal disorder. It wasn't until I began researching in some depth that I realised that my tiredness and general unwillingness to be shifted from my pit could all be attributed to this. I will admit, the temptation to print out the medical evidence, highlight the pertinent facts and wave it at my Dad, shouting "HA!" was overwhelming.

Also, I have another reason these days. Smallest has never been a sleeper. She has slept right through the night 3 times in her 14 month existance, but on average I am treated to two wakes per night for milk. So if you include the several months of pregnancy discomfort before she was born, I've not slept in a year and a half. Weirdly this hasn't bothered me too much. I have been aware from the beginning that she will settle in her own time. I'm not one for sleep training or leaving babies to howl, blessed as I am with a conscience. And she's getting there now. I am hoping that she might even start sleeping all night regularly soon. What a crazy notion....

I wonder, though. Are some people just night owls, or are the night owls "Cockerally Challenged" like myself. Do we get up late because we sleep late, or do we sleep late because we can't get up in the morning?

Or am I just a lazy bugger?