Birthdays are NOT Christmas

So it is the kid's birthday and we have warned him that there was a big present coming, but it would be like a month late, because of contracts and whatnot. We also are spending the day at Legoland. Now I get that living with an Aspie, means we hit some milestones a bit out of sync, but OMG! I think we hit like somewhere between 4-6 on the I'm getting presents emotional scale. Christmas was the one morning of the whole year he would sleep in when he was in preschool.

Some how part of the family thinks the birthday morning should commence with cards and presents, so the kid apparently decides this is the morning to awaken at 3:30AM. By a little after 4 he is dressed and creeping into our room to see if and when we will be joining him. He wakes up the dog, and me, but is sent back to bed. ...And he's back a half an hour later, which is when I tell him I don't want to see you again until 6.

Meanwhile all of this to-ing and fro-ing has the dog up, she's been out and back in again. She is wondering when her breakfast will be coming along, but her preliminary bed checks do not show the alphas up and about, so she decided to play with her green ball which has rolled under the dresser. So there is Y snoring, her nose is whistling a bit from allergies and every third breath is a Marge Simpson like whine/groan/whimper. Finally I surrender to the noisy dog and retrieve one green ball, and enough Clumber hair to make a puppy out from under the dresser. And head off to the kitchen to grieve over the lost sleep with some Trader Joe's Lemon Bars that are surprisingly good. Then another failed attempt to go back to bed.

But wait...there is a thud, I go to investigate, and as I open the bedroom door there is the kid...again. "It was almost 6 so I thought I'd check." We march into the kitchen. "Tell me what time it is?", I say.

"Oh...uh...5:20."
"Is that anywhere near 6?"
"Oh"
"We have a long day ahead of us. You need more than 6 hours of sleep. I definitely need more than 4! Go back to bed"

5:55 guess who is back. Y and I have started sniping at each other out of sleep deprivation. So we surrender. Fine open your presents, we don't care anymore. "Are they in the garage?" "What?!?" "Oh I know. Your closet" "Huh?!?" "No, no one hid your presents. They aren't in our room go find them", but we're staying here, because we can't believe how this morning is going down. When did birthdays get confused with Christmas (up at 3:30) and Easter (we're hiding things in the garage?!?)?

Eventually he finds them, because why would anybody ever look on the dining room table. The video game from Grandma E gets the Spongebob choir of angels noise. But he is also very pleased with the book of outdoor games that accompanies it. Then he tears back in to show us the t-shirt from Jinx.com. Some other presents were diverted, or are happening over the weekend, but he really liked everything even the clothes which can't always count on with the tweens. He didn't mind that there were only three things to open. But boy howdy...Christmas better not be like this.