My Jewel, Up Before Dawn

I knew that my Jewel liked to rise early before everybody else. She is now seven and has been practicing this for quite some time. Most of the time, she'll just stay in her room and read quietly, or go into the living room and listen to music.

This morning I had to wake up early to get to a 6:30AM meeting, but when I went to go get showered up, much to my surprise, my Jewel was taking a bath on her own! It was 5:30 in the morning and there she was, splashing away in the tub, taking up all my hot water.

When I was finally washed up and ready to head out, I encountered her again at 6:15, where she was playing a game of chess by herself while listening to a lecture on the history of the world. It dawned on me then that while I'm sure some of the structure in her life is trained via my Beloved's homeschooling, there is another part of it that is completely internally driven in her little seven year old heart. She too seeks out a rhythm and cadence to each day, and I am slowly becoming aware that it begins well before I even think about waking up.