Wednesday, June 02, 2004

But the sun is up!!! Our new theme.

Our poor neighbors. Our poor, poor neighbors. Sunrise this morning was 5:46AM. This means that at approximately 5:47, our youngest woke up. "But the sun is up!!!" She seems to think that just because the sun is up, it is time to be awake, running throughout the apartment, and generally terrorizing our neighbors with the sounds of her little elephant-like feet.

Unfortunately, this also means that she is a Little Miss Grumpy Butt for the rest of the day, as well. Every little thing seems to be whine-worthy, and it seems perfectly reasonable in her mind to throw a fit when a commercial comes on TV during Blue's Clues. It also gives her free reign to beat on her older brothers if they commit even the smallest infraction against her - "He looked at me!!!"

It doesn't seem to matter when we send her to bed. If she goes to bed at her regular time, 8:00, she wakes up with the sun. If she goes to bed at 10:30, as she is sometimes allowed on weekends, she wakes up with the sun. If she takes a nap the day before, she wakes up with the sun. If she doesn't take a nap the day before, she wakes up with the sun. Her body doesn't seem to realize that she is only 3 years old, and she needs approximately 12 hours of sleep per night.

I'm sure you are thinking, "Why not hang black-out drapes in her room?" There is a good reason for this. Absolutely no drapery may be at a height that she or her 5yo brother can reach, or else it will be climbed or pulled down. (She does have blinds, but those are required by our lease...and are quite battered now that she and her brother have had at them!) Yeah, most kids realize by their age that touching the drapes is against the rules. But these guys aren't typical kids. Remember - nothing is sacred to them because biomom didn't teach them any respect whatsoever for their surroundings. (Damn, I hope I can fix that soon!)

My most recent idea is to buy an alarm clock to go in her bedroom. Set it for something reasonable, say 7:30 or 8:00, and tell her she may not get out of bed until it goes off. Come to think of it, we have an extra alarm clock in our kitchen. I think I'll move it today.

Any other suggestions?

On another note: Tai finally got all of the paperwork together so he can apply for a VA home loan. Wish us luck!

1 comment:

kate said...

Good luck! If you do try the alarm clock thing, you might want to do it gradually-- start at 6:00, or even 6:15 or so, then move the time up a bit each day. And leave some snacks that she can eat without causing too much havoc in case she wakes up hungry. And maybe even designate a few special "early morning toys" that get put away when you get up, so the novelty doesn´t wear off and she can use them quietly until the alarm goes off. Yes, I know, it´s easy to offer ideas when it´s not your problem! I hope it works...