Kids' Playground

A few months ago, we had a small problem with Little Bear. He kept getting up earlier and earlier. It got to the point we were sending him back to bed... every morning... at 5 am! I can tell you that got really old very quickly. Thankfully, he's known his numbers for over a year.

We found an old alarm clock, put it in his room, set it, and told him he cannot get out of bed until the first number is a "7." He did get up a few times at 6:07 and 5:57, but it didn't take long for him to get the hang of which end is the one he's supposed to read. It also didn't take very long for him to be up and at 'em every morning at 7 am.

If I'm working, 7am is no big deal. I'm out of bed, dressed, and eating my breakfast, or packing my lunch, or heading out the door. I can pour a quick bowl of Cheerios and he's happy (if they're dry). If I'm not working, a team of wild horses would have to run across the bed to wake me. So Hunny Bunny has to get out of bed, get the Little Bear his snack, and send him off to the playroom. However, she doesn't like to get out of bed in the morning; so she hit on this great idea: Little Bear's clock is now 20 to 30 minutes slow, and she doesn't have to get out of bed so early. (I'd really like to comment on this "great" idea, but since I don't want to defend myself or those comments if (or when) she reads my blog -- you may draw your own conclusions.)

Since last Thursday, Little Bear has come running to find me every morning. Every time he's found me, he tells me that I, "need to go finish his playground."

At 7:20 in the morning, I'm too sleepy to care, or too much in a hurry to get out the door and off to work, so I'm not at all interested in the current progress on his playground. Little Bear, on the other hand, can't think of anything else in the entire world more important. Just a few minutes of his excitement is contagious. Watching him jump up and down and ask 20 times in a row, "Can I play on it today?" is a great motivator. Hopefully, he'll be playing on it by the end of this week, or beginning of next. (Although, realistically, it still may not be finished when Papa & Mimi leave on the 25th.)