Last Sunday I bought an alarm clock which we put in Cootiegirl’s room. Up to that point our normal morning routine was that I woke up, turned on the lights in the kids’ rooms, shook them awake then went to take my shower to begin getting ready for work. At that point, while the kids were getting ready for school, Denis would get up and head downstairs to pull together their lunches should they be taking lunches to school. Once I was out of the shower I’d get dressed and come downstairs and help the kids gather their things together, put on shoes/coats and head out to the bus stop. Denis would then head upstairs and begin getting ready for work himself.
It’s a well-oiled machine at this point. The only sticky-wicket? Sometimes the girl won’t wake up. Cootiegirl has been known to still be in bed with the covers over her head when I get out of my shower. Or she’ll be only half-dressed as Cootieboy is putting on his shoes and heading out the door. He’s definitely the morning person. She could sleep through a bomb going off in her room.
Normally I just turn on her stereo full-blast in the hopes that it will wake her up, but most of the time that doesn’t work. However, since installing the alarm clock in her room, she has gotten up every morning and is dressed by the time I get out of the shower. Not only that, but Cootieboy has decided he, too, wants his alarm to go off and so that is set as well. And each morning of the past week after he has hit “snooze” (at 6 a.m., no less) he will come into our room and ask me if it’s okay to get dressed now. I tell him it is and roll back over for my remaining 20 minutes of sleep before I have to get up. He gets dressed and heads downstairs for some quick videogame time before he has to head to the bus.
In the entire week we had no rush of “CG, YOU AREN’T EVEN DRESSED YET?” upon the realization that the bus is two minutes away and she’s still in PJs.
Much like the laundry cart we recently began using, there’s no telling when the novelty of having alarm clocks will wear off, but if we can make it to, say, June 1 (which is coincidentally the last day of the school year) then I’ll consider them a great success!
We just need to remember NOT to have the alarms turned on during the weekends. Like this morning.
Win!