5.30am


Amelia is waking at 5.30am these mornings, even the mornings after she has spent a fair portion of the evening before banging on her door demanding lullabies, drinks, toilet visits, cuddles etc. 5.30am isn’t so bad now that she can get out of her bed, pad across her room, pull open her door and then come and launch herself (and huge armfuls of soft toys) up onto our bed. Most mornings she snuggles down beside us and lets us have another half an hour while she sucks her thumb and stares at the ceiling. I can almost hear the Toy Story thoughts running through her mind. Some mornings she snuggles down deeper and throws a tiny, chubby arm around my neck, which is some kind of bliss. Except when she says; “Mum… you smell. You smell like… old porridge!”

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23 Responses

  1. jokano@gmail.com says:

    I recognize that quilt–the one your grandmother made? That was one of my favortie illustrations of you as a young girl at her lap.

  2. cute!!Love the stories, love the drawings!!

  3. ahh claire this touches my heart for so many reasons 🙂 First because I know how that chubby little arm feels around my neck in the wee hours of the morning, and second the funny things kid say to us. Its so funny how honest they are..old porridge haha so cute!

  4. I love Loobylu! Thank you for sharing your heart and your gifts with such radiance and whimsy. It’s the seemingly small things such as these that make this world brighter and more lovely. I appreciate what you do and love checking in with this site! Cheers from Seattle!

  5. That’s such a darling illustration. I love ALL of your illustrations. And I do adore Charlie and Lola. My little one is a bit young to enjoy them yet, but we see them on the Disney channel in the morning.

  6. Oh dear! That gave me such a good laugh!

  7. banarji@hotmail.com says:

    that is waaaaay too cute. heartwarming. thank you.

  8. YES. 5.30 is a killer with this early daylight – bring on daylight savings – I am ready! now that the kids are a little older we can stave off the getting up – they are learning to scrounge their own food – bananas and glasses of milk –

  9. Old Porridge ..thats adorable..just remeber despite smelling like Old porridge she loves you anyway and still ahs her arm round your neck..not many other there would

  10. My 3 are all waking up before six too! I love the picture. Amelia’s little face looks so cute, and I can imagine all the Toy Story adventures she’s thinking about.

  11. I agree with the daylight savings comment. My boy is waking up at 5.30 as well. It’s nice having him in bed with us in the morning but I’d rather not have to wake up until 7! I’ll just keep dreaming shall I?

  12. ooohh too gorgeous 😉 I love your Amelia stories 🙂 Do you really have a gorgeous patchwork quilt like that? If so… I am jealous! The illustration looks beautiful x

  13. I LOVE the detail in your quilt illo!! What a great drawing. Amelia is too cute. : ^ )

  14. I love how wonky your personal illustrations can be. They are beautifully imperfect, and more than understandably so with a little one running around all day. I’m amazed you get done all you do.

  15. HA HA! It must be the three year old right of passage–mine is suddenly doing the same thing. Coming into bed with us in the wee hours of the morning–only mine jumps on our bodies gleefully!Let’s treasure these memories,eh?

  16. Oh, and I just saw the bit about Charlie and Lola–wonderful, we like it too!

  17. oh i love the chubby arm around the neck, but i usually get the cold toes sneaking between my legs…

  18. Ha! I can’t wait for the day when Brynne actually wants to snuggle in our bed… all that seems to interest her these days is wrestling and wriggling under the covers!

  19. diadsie@aol.com says:

    Maybe Amelia is going to bed too early? Does she nap also? I think it’s either napping and staying up later or not napping and going down earlier. I love your story, but 5:30 am is too early for a little one to be wide awake. Good luck. : )Love your site!

  20. blivingstone@hotmail.com says:

    There’s a Charlie and Lola tv programme? I know Lauren Child’s books (love “i will not never ever eat a tomato”!) – so nice to see them move!
    Good luck with the mornings, though…5.30’s a killer.

  21. 5.30am for my three year old as well. It’s funny though how your concept of early morning changes when you have kids – anything after 5am is okay with me now, but pre-kids that would have been outrageously early!! Lovely illustration and there are worse things you could smell like 😉

  22. What a cute story. I love “cuddles” in the morning too, but they don’t last long because they are ready to get on with their “busy” lives (playing).

  23. I love Charlie and Lola too. Aren’t they just so cute!
    Every morning I enjoy being cuddled, tickled, squashed, etc with my two little ones too! It’s both annoying and gorgeous at the same time! 🙂

    Always love looking at your drawings and hopefully I will get myself organised for my first MOS in November. I have you linked in my new blog too so come and see! 🙂