Blame it on the Clock

I love the Tot Clock. This has to be one of the best inventions in the world - or at least my world that consists of diapers and formula and other motherhood stuff. Papa Bear and I always lamented over the fact that Little Man couldn't tell time so we couldn't tell him to stay in bed until 7 or 8 or 9. And then we found the Tot Clock. This singularly genius invention has changed things in this house. It is simple. When the clock is blue - it is bed time (or nap time) and when the clock is yellow it is awake time. Why he hasn't questioned this is beyond me, but Little Man is a rule follower and it works for him. At the end of nap time (which I have set the "blue time" to be a 2 hour duration) he yells "Mama the clock is yellow" and I say "Are you sure?" and he says, "Yes, it is really really yellow" and then I say "well come on down" and at night when he wakes up and comes running into our room screaming because of the chicken by the door or the blue and green mouse that is going to get him, I can give him a hug and then say "What color is your clock?" and he sleepily says "Blue" and then there is no fight in taking him back to his room because that's the rule. This wonderful clock has helped us get more sleep and instead of having to tell Little Man that Mama just wants a bed free of pint sized squirmers, I can just tell him that the clock is blue and so he must stay in his bed. I highly recommend the tot clock for any sleep deprived parents of a toddler. (And no-one is paying me to say that)

However, I will issue this one warning. Travel with it. If you don't you are left to the whim's of whatever clock happens to be in the room where you are staying. An example of this is when we were in Delaware visiting Mee-Mom and Little Man was sleeping on a mattress on the floor and by a cruel cruel trick of the world, Mee-Mom's clock is backlit yellow. So at 3 am, Little Man pops up and says, "The clock is yellow, time to wake up!" So yeah, travel with it and also a secret trick is that during the week you can have it turn yellow at a certain time, say 6:30 am, but on the weekend you can change it so that it doesn't turn yellow until, say 7:30 am, and your Little Man would never ever know :)