To sleep in

I’ve come to accept that a big part of parenting is sleep deprivation.

While Aya has a firm bedtime (no later than 7:30 pm on weeknights), she gets up pretty much whenever she wants to — which is usually before 6:30 a.m. Which means I get up before 6:30 a.m. Even on weekends*. As a result, I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve slept in since she was born! It’s been more than six years since I dozed until the sun neared it’s zenith.

It’s worth it, though. I love my daughter dearly.

I’m not really in a position to complain about Aya getting up early. Even though she is learning to tell time, it would do us little good to instruct her, “If you wake up before 8 o’clock, please let Mommy and Dad sleep,” as Brian and I don’t keep a clock in her room. So really, it’s our own fault!

But I just stumbled across this thing called a Teach Me Time talking alarm clock.

This is an adorable bedside alarm clock which displays both a traditional clock face and a digital time readout. It’s a cute design, friendly, round, and almost egg-shaped. The two “toes” on the clock are part of the teaching game. Even better, it acts as a nightlight with a timer: the body of the clock glows yellow, and changes to green when it’s “ok” to get up.

What a great way to reinforce the idea that it’s not okay to pounce the parents when they still need their sleep!

I need to get one of these for Aya while she’s still young enough to think it’s cool.

*Yeah, ok, she slept in until 7:30 this morning.