Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Did Your Kids Get the Memo?

My kids did not get the memo about the time change. Or maybe they got the memo, but since they can't read or, you know, understand the concept of time, they didn't pay it any attention.

The Pumpkin, who will often lie quietly and wait until 7:00, made it until 5:40 this morning. Her body thought it was 6:40, that would have been pretty good prior to the time change. The killer this morning was that Londo got out of bed to get ready to go to work at that time, so she figured it was time to get up.

And Pookie? He heard his sister up and he is very used to getting up with me about 6 or 6:30, so he craned his neck to look at me and give me his big I'm-awake-aren't-I-cute smile with eyes wide open. I turned my head to the other side, and the Pumpkin was leaning over smiling at me. And that was the end of that.

I might have been able to drift back off to sleep for a while with one awake and the help of the TV, but no way with two awake and looking at me with their adorable little faces!

Maybe next spring they will make the time shift more easily. Maybe the government (or whoever is in charge of these things) will stop this ridiculous daylight savings, because it is NOT saving me any daylight. It is just making my mornings longer, because I still wake up when it's dark out. And it's making our evenings more of a struggle because everyone is tired an hour before we go to bed. We had just gotten things in a pretty good nighttime routine, too...

15 comments:

songbird said...

am I the only one who likes that we're all going to bed an hour earlier?

Two Shorten the Road said...

It's a problem for me and Lexie, too. I didn't want her to go to bed an hour earlier because she was waking up between 6 and 7am, and I didn't want her to potentially be up at 5am. Sunday night (all night) was a disaster. Last night was better -- she only woke up once. I used to love "fall back" and the extra hour of sleep it gave me. Now I hate it.

caramama said...

@songbird - I wish we were going to bed an hour earlier! But I don't get home from work until 5:30 or 6:00 (or some nights 6:30), and Londo can't put both to bed at what would now be 6:00 by himself. We have to keep the same clock schedules at work, with the nanny and at pre-school, so there is no moving everything forward. But maybe for the next few nights we will go to bed at 6:30. That's an idea...

@Two Shorten the Road - I also used to LOVE the "fall back." Now, not so much.

Katie said...

The Infanta has been waking up around 7. Considering we'd been edging towards 10 before the time change (thanks to last month's chaos... I've never been so glad to be done with a month!), that's not a bad thing overall, but it's still far too early for my taste. Since we can spend an hour or so nursing and snuggling it works out, but can I get another 30 minutes? Please?!

Charisse said...

well, I can just tell you from the future that my 5 1/2 year old understood, remembered it from last year, and required no more help adjusting than I do. light at the end of this particular tunnel. hang in there caramama!!

Cloud said...

As I said on my blog, the entire time change thing is proof to me that, despite what some of my childless friends try to tell me, the world is NOT organized with parents in mind.

The worst of it this year is that Petunia was settling into a nice schedule, which, when shifted an hour earlier, just sucks and ensures that I cannot get four hours of continuous sleep. So we're struggling, trying to get everyone shifted to the new time. Ugh.

I'm Not Skippy said...

Our kid is fine. He was back on his normal bed time and wake-up call by Monday morning.

caramama said...

@Katie - Seriously! Sometimes I just want one more half hour... is that too much to ask?

@Charisse - I LOVE hearing your light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel stories! I've been thinking about your girl a lot lately since mine stopped napping and is so much easier (and earlier) to put to bed. :-)

@Cloud - Exactly! We had just gotten a decent morning routine, and then the time change. The kids are on the same routine, and it's fine for them in the mornings... but boy am I screwed up!

@I'm Not Skippy - I mean this with great affection: You suck! ;-) Kidding! I'm glad that your son was able to adjust so easily. It's great to hear that some kids are able to do that, and I hope that mine are next year.

- Dana said...

Halloween messed the evening up so much on Saturday, both kids didn't even notice the change! Although this morning my daughter woke up about 30 min earlier. She kept saying it was light outside. I'm looking forward to the sun rising just a little later!

Charisse said...

@Caramama, yeah, Mouse and Pumpkin were built from the same diagram, sleepwise. Glad she made it through that shift--it's a rough one!

Anonymous said...

The first day Monkey didn't get the memo. He was up at 4:15 although until mid-morning I was still thinking it was 5:15 when he got up. However, the following day he was back to normal.

Sorry to hear things were a little difficult with the time change. Like you said, there's always Spring!

MommyEm said...

Sorry to be a nit-picker - but the time change was the end of Daylight Savings not the beginning. :-) I always love Daylight Savings time and I can't understand why we ever go back to regular time, since I would love to have extra daylight in Winter. It seems right when things are getting dark and depressing we change the time and things just get more dark and more depressing.

Karen said...

I've always thought that I was an outcast, shunning the "fall back" and embracing the "spring forward." But it's the kids. Their internal clocks are on their own time and it just isn't compatible with my wall clocks.

mom2boys said...

Time change memo still not delivered to the boy. Up at 4:30 again this morning. Bedtime not a problem at all thankfully, but probably because he's so tired from being up an extra hour everyday. He just can't get his internal clock to shift that hour.

caramama said...

@Dana - Halloween also messed us up, so we didn't have any problem with Sunday. We've had the problem Monday on, though.

@cirquedubebe - I'm glad it was only one early morning!

@MommyEm - You are right about the end of Daylight Savings. But here's a nitpick back at you (and I can do that because we are good friends): There isn't any "extra" daylight in winter. DLS/end of DLS doesn't actually change the amount of time there is light outside. It just changes the time of the clock, but there is the same amount of daylight regardless of the time change. But I totally agree that the time change makes it feel even more dark and depressing to me.

@Karen - It is! It's the kids and their internal clocks!

@mom2boys - We are still struggling with mornings and not nights too. Here's hoping that these kids figure it out soon!

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