02 June 2014

I Need the Sleep

For the last week, The Bairn has been waking up between 5:00 and 5:30 am every day.  I consulted the Internets and the good parents of the forums verified that, yes, 2-year-olds often wake up at the crack of dawn.  Several families also said that they'd been successful in convincing their toddlers to sleep in by giving them digital alarm clocks and explaining that no one was allowed out of bed until 6:00.  So I put the clock in The Bairn's room last night and we talked about waking up and seeing '5' and staying in bed until we see '6.'

As usual he came bounding into my room at 5:14 asking if we could go downstairs.  I took him back to his room.

Me: See, the clock says 5.  We don't get up until 6.

Him: When will it be 6?

Me: Forty-five minutes.

Him: Hmmm.

Him: Is it morning?

Me: It's morning, but it's not time to get up.

Then I left and he followed me and I put him back in his room over and over again until I finally decided to just stay in his room with him.

Him: Look, it's 6!  Let's go downstairs.

Me: It's 5:26.  The 6 has to be the first number.  It's not time to get up yet.

Him: Lots of bounding around, peeking out the shade and exclaiming over the 'beautiful sunshine.'

Me: Lots of considering where the nearest gypsy trading post is located.

Him: Let's go downstairs.

Me: It's not 6 yet.  We get up at 6.

Him: I want to go downstairs.

Me: It's not 6 yet.  We get up at 6.

Him: Starts pushing all the buttons on the clock.  No more '5!'  See?  No more '5.'

Me: We don't get up until 6.

Him: No more clock!  No more numbers!

And then he tried to throw the clock off the bedside table and when that didn't work, he unplugged the clock  and did, in fact, get rid of the number 5, but I still tossed him in the crib where he waited, sometimes shrieking, until it was 6:00 to go downstairs.

Any suggestions for getting him to sleep later?  I might just deal with it except that he wakes up Baby E when he gets up, and she happily sleeps until 7 if she gets to stay in bed undisturbed by noisy brothers and leaving mothers.

In the afternoon, for his nap, The Bairn saw the clock with the blank face and asked, genuinely surprised, "Where are the numbers?  Who broke this clock?"

Also, this. (That's the face she makes when she's huffing and puffing and snorting.)

And this.


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have no suggestions, only sympathy and memories of a similar someone when they were 2 years old doing the same thing as the Bairn. He would jump up on our bed throw the curtain open and declare "It is a sunny day!" (hoping this would motivate us to action) when we could clearly hear the rain beating down on the roof.

Papa

Anonymous said...

Just one of the "Joys" of having super smart children.

Love

Dad

eliana23 said...

Tin foil over windows. Us northern folk have to trick the kids because sun does not equal getting up. Good luck. Mornings are icky.

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