Catchin extra zzz's

Hey. Hey mommy. Are you ready to get up yet?

My girls have been driving me nuts with their sleep schedule all of their lives.  Nothing is ever the same except their bedtime. One week they get up at 7:00. The next they get up at 8:00. Every once in a while they even stretch it to 9:00. It would be nice to know when those early days are going to be so I don't stay up ridiculously late blogging about how hard it is to parent them. Heck, it would even be nice to know when those late days are going to be so I can enjoy sleeping in late and not jump up out of the bed worried someone has spontaneously combusted and the house is burning to the ground around me.

I love to sleep. But once I'm up there is no going back to bed until at least 11:00. My brain and my body just will not shut down before then. And when I'm woken up before I've had a full 9 hours, well, I didn't get the pet name "bear," for no reason.

Some time ago, after daylight savings time, I realized Delores was starting to grasp how to tell time.  She could tell you the hour of the day at least. And I thought "Yes! This is my chance!" I got a wall clock we had laying around and put it in her room just to see how she would react to it.  The dagum thing ticked so loud it woke her up in the middle of the night and then she woke me up. Obviously, the complete opposite of what I was going for.  So, I took it out of her room and waited to see if she would adjust to the time change. She didn't.

So, I set out on a mission. To find the almost perfect alarm clock for her room.  If you can't tell, when I set out to get something I already have it in my mind what qualities it should have and how much it should cost. If I can't find it, then I don't settle for anything else.  This of course has its pros and cons.  I don't buy a lot of stuff I don't need but then sometimes I have to go without. 

Three trips out and three stores later I had it. All mine! Let me tell ya, there are not many more things that can make me feel better than that. 

She was so excited about it. It was pink with pink numbers and it didn't tick and it lit up. She has been talking about it and showing it off for days. Poor little child had know idea that her new prized possession was really just a prop in her mother's diabolic scheme to sleep in. Muah ahahahahah!

We discussed the features off the clock and counted the numbers and discussed how the little hand tells the hour. Then I told her "Ok, now when you get up in the morning you can't come out of your room until the little hand is on the 8. Think you can do that? " She was all for it.

I have to admit that initially I felt bad about tricking Delores. We tell them the truth about everything from where babies come from to Santa Claus. But I figure you have to find things you can laugh about to get you through all the madness besides all the funny, cute stuff kids are supposed to do. That's one of the joys of parenting, right?

It's a good thing I didnt let my guilt get the best of me. I have had 2 glorious days of sleeping past 8:00. It actually worked! And she is so proud of herself she comes flying into my room with her clock to show me she did it.  Not really the way I want to be woken up but, hey, I'll take that if I can catch a few more zzz's.