The Alarm Clock

The alarm clock.  Genius.  Obnoxious.  Loud.  It's as if I'm describing myself.

My 7-year-old is curious.  And lately he's curious about night time.  Not 9:00 PM or even midnight.  But the deep dark hours of early morning when everything is quiet and most people are sleeping.  He found an old alarm clock in my D.I. box and decided that he really wanted an adventure.  And so he set out to discover 5:00 AM.  

All I have to say about that is $@&%$!!!!!  Yep!  I'm the only one that woke up at 5:00 AM that morning.  Lucky me!  I staggered down the hall towards that awful noise and turned it off as my sweet boy rolled over and snuggled into his pillow without a care in the world.  Bless his little heart.  

Stupid alarm clock!  

Later that morning when my little boy got up and at 'em, he was a tad disappointed that he had missed 5:00 AM, but decided he would try again.  He asked me, "Mom, have you ever been awake at 2:00 in the morning?"  "Yes," I replied.  He then asked about 1 AM  and 4 AM and 3:25 AM.  I answered over and over again, yes, yes, and yes.  He then wanted details.  What's it like at that time?  Is it dark?  Is it scary?  I did my best to explain the deets of the early morning hours that I don't personally enjoy.  And so, he declared, "I'm going to wake up at 1:00 AM!"  I told him I was not okay with that, especially since the last time he'd set his alarm I had been the only one in the house that had heard it.  

That night as I made my rounds to tuck the kiddos into bed, C.J. marched downstairs.  I was confused.  His bedroom is upstairs.  He then announced that he was sleeping on the couch in the basement.  He was determined to see 1:00 in the morning and so he made his bed on the couch with his alarm clock near his head.  His theory was, if I slept upstairs and he slept downstairs it would be a win/win situation.  He could wake up whenever he wanted and I would be none the wiser.  Brilliant!  I agreed.

I slept through the night last night.  I didn't hear that ugly alarm buzzing or anything else for that matter.  And from what I was told, C.J found the early morning spectacular.  And why wouldn't it be a wonderful time of day?  I later found out that my 7-year-old had just outsmarted his mother and set his alarm early so he could wake up and play the PlayStation for hours without anyone knowing.  

(standing ovation)

Well done you little fart!  You earned every minute!