Reclaiming My Mornings


Compounded with Noah's recent crazy bedtime behavior, I forgot to mention that for the past couple of months, he has been waking in the morning before 7am (6:30 or 6:45 to be exact. It was 6:20 one morning.).


Now before those of you parents of REALLY early risers get out your tomatoes and warm up your throwing arm, let me reiterate that the bedtimes over here have been nightmarish.** We're talking not getting to sleep until around 10pm. I'm sorry, but 10pm to 6:30am just is NOT enough sleep for a 3 year old (in my opinion). It's barely enough sleep for me. At the very least, I need him to have more sleep than that.


So I did what any I'm-desperate-for-my-mornings-back parent would do: I went out yesterday and bought Noah a ....drumroll please..... Big Boy Digital Alarm Clock.


(I cannot take credit for the idea I am about to share with you. My dear lifelong friend Holly shared it with me. I would hug Holly right now if I could.)


I brought the clock home, plugged it in, set the time, and (now here's where it gets good!) I taped over the minutes part of the display. Now only the hour was showing. I had made sure earlier in the day to confirm that Noah could recognize a digital number "7". I then made this huge deal over how he was getting to have a CLOCK in his BEDROOM like a BIG BOY. And then I told him that he should look at his clock upon waking in the morning, and ONLY get out of bed if there was a "7" showing on the clock. Not a "6", definitely not a "5". A "7". Noah was ready to prove he could be a big boy.


I don't know who was more excited this morning when Noah came out of his room at 7:02. I think it was me. Actually, it was. It was ME!! I know he was awake in there at 6:40 because I heard him, but that beautiful clock bought me 22 extra minutes, which meant that I could complete my exercise dvd. Or--think of it with me--on Saturdays I just might be able to sleep in until 7!!


I just hope it works again tomorrow!


Sincerely,

One Satisfied Mom


(Holly, you should market your idea!)


**the asterisk above was reminding me to mention that Noah has actually done very well going to bed the last 2 nights in a row. We're praying that we're over the hump, and that our nights will go back to normal all the time. Thank you for praying, friends! You can keep it up. :)

Comments

Melanie said…
Awesome!!! I love the idea of taping over the other numbers! :) Way to get creative.
November 24, 2010 at 12:17 PM
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