There was a time when my wife and I could look forward to a reasonably late start on a weekend.

Much to our relief, tended to lie in until at least 8am or even 9am on a non-nursery day, giving us some much-needed respite on our days off.

But those days appear to have finally come to an end.

With the arrival of summer and the holidays, Jack has suddenly switched to a strict wake-up time of 6:45am.

Coincidentally, this is exactly the time that he’d normally be woken up for nursery. The difference is getting him out of bed at this time had historically proved to be quite a battle. Now, he’s up and awake before either of us are.

This was all fine when he was actually going to nursery of course – mornings became a lot easier to manage. But when he’s not doing so it’s less appreciated, especially on the weekends.

I appreciate very much that most parents have it a lot tougher. When Jack was still a breast-fed baby, early mornings were our bread and butter.

However, it’s almost worse having got used to a lie in, to have to revert back to an early start.

The frustrating part about it is, Jack quite often wakes up tired, grouchy and ultimately in need of about two more hours’ worth of sleep. Early starts have, unfortunately, coincided with the odd nap or two over the weekend.

Again, I thought I’d bid farewell to Jack naps when he was buggy-bound.

With my now very pregnant wife coping with a wriggling baby in her belly and all the interrupted sleep and discomfort which can accompany that, it’s me who’s bearing the full brunt of these early mornings.

On the bright side, at least I’m being well-prepped for when our baby daughter does arrive, and lie-ins truly do become a thing of the past.