Up and at 'em

When Shannon was small, I used to wake her up in the morning by cheerfully chirping, "Up and at 'em." Several years ago, I guess she heard the phrase again and realized what I was really saying. It was discovered that for many years she thought I was ushering her in to the morning by brightly shouting "Up and Adam!" Turns out that for a dreadfully long time she has been secretly wondering who the hell Adam was and what did he have to do with getting up in the morning. Funny girl. I was reminded of this yesterday when I was clearing photos from my cell phone.

The boys occasionally requisition my phone and take shots of random things like floors or car tires or the branch of a tree. Yesterday, as I was cooling my heels in The King Coffee Shop (where I hang for an hour while the boys do their Kumon twice a week) I was bored and remembered that I could use that time far more effectively than to purchase and then eat the oatmeal-raisin cookie that was screaming my name from behind the counter. Yes, I could occupy myself by deleting stupid photos from my Blackberry. I came across this one and I laughed right out loud in the coffee shop. Sadly, I may not be able to go back there again since I have now likely earned myself the moniker of crazy-person-who-laughs-loudly-at-nothing-that-anyone-else-can-see. Damn, cause those cookies are really very yummy.

I took this photo of Henry several weeks ago at around 7:00 in the morning. I know it was taken several weeks ago because he still has a whole head of hair versus the now stubbly short hair he has been sporting since the head shaving lice incident.

I snapped this minutes after after I had been bellowing up at him to:

GETDOWNSTAIRSNOWWENEEDTOGETTOYOURORCHESTRAREHEARSALBY7:45OR WEAREGOINGTOBELATE!!

I figured I would diffuse the already tense, and becoming tenser, situation by taking a photo in lieu of say pouring his un-pictured cold milky cereal over his sleep tousled head.

The result is an image that is HIGHLY representative of what Henry looks like in the morning. It captures, in utter perfection, the essence of Henry "I am not a morning person" Wisniewski. Had the camera been turned back on me it would have presented the lunatic look of a Mom who plainly doesn't have the right skill set to deal with a cranky 10 year old in the early morning hours. Especially when said Mom had already lovingly made the entirely ignored and unappreciated mug of hot cocoa you see next to him.

Oh, and we were late for orchestra where he did arrive with his hair looking exactly like it did in the picture. He was wearing the clothes that he is shown resting on. I believe I had to wrestle him in to them. Classic.