A couple kids ago I realized the truth about Daylight Savings Time; It was invented by someone without children. It's been all over facebook, and everywhere else people can publicly complain about life, kids are getting up an hour earlier and yuckiness inevitably follows. Everyone I know with kids (EXCEPT the amazing Karis Wilson, who just might be the perfect child) was affected by DST in one way or another, so I figure this is a good time to talk about my "Bag of Quiet Fun".
Mia is really loud when she wakes up. SCREAMS for me, then DAD, then BUBUH, then aaaaahDEEEEEEEEEEEE... never really for Troy, (sorry Troy!!). This wasn't that big of a deal until a month or so ago when I started deliberately wanting to wake up before her. I set my alarm for O'Dark-thirty and began to enjoy the quiet house for about an hour before she would stir.
It's like she could smell me waking up.
Within a few days she was waking up at o'dark-thrity as well. That's when I remembered my "Bag of Quiet Fun" trick.
Right before I lay Mia down at night, the lights are already off in her room, I add a few different items to the end of her crib. Every night I pick something different. And for a super fun twist I add a little bag filled with smaller things, like horse figures and fairy dolls. When she wakes in the morning she sees what I put in and plays for a good amount of time with all the goodies and I get to maintain a true quiet time before my household wakes up.
This will not work forever. If she figures out the stuff is in her crib before she goes to sleep at night, and decides to play with the toys then... that will be the last of the "Bag of Quiet Fun". I think I've got at least a few months left in her. When she's out of the crib then she'll have a stack of books to look at in the morning, as the other kids do, and that pairs perfectly with our "Stay quiet in your bed until 7:00am" standard.
So there you go, I started doing this with Addison when she was a baby, so I guess it's tradition now. :-) Nice for them to learn to play quietly by themselves for a while and nice for me to start my day alone in the Word.
Do you have any tricks to keeping your younger ones quietly occupied?
Mia is really loud when she wakes up. SCREAMS for me, then DAD, then BUBUH, then aaaaahDEEEEEEEEEEEE... never really for Troy, (sorry Troy!!). This wasn't that big of a deal until a month or so ago when I started deliberately wanting to wake up before her. I set my alarm for O'Dark-thirty and began to enjoy the quiet house for about an hour before she would stir.
It's like she could smell me waking up.
Within a few days she was waking up at o'dark-thrity as well. That's when I remembered my "Bag of Quiet Fun" trick.
Right before I lay Mia down at night, the lights are already off in her room, I add a few different items to the end of her crib. Every night I pick something different. And for a super fun twist I add a little bag filled with smaller things, like horse figures and fairy dolls. When she wakes in the morning she sees what I put in and plays for a good amount of time with all the goodies and I get to maintain a true quiet time before my household wakes up.
This will not work forever. If she figures out the stuff is in her crib before she goes to sleep at night, and decides to play with the toys then... that will be the last of the "Bag of Quiet Fun". I think I've got at least a few months left in her. When she's out of the crib then she'll have a stack of books to look at in the morning, as the other kids do, and that pairs perfectly with our "Stay quiet in your bed until 7:00am" standard.
So there you go, I started doing this with Addison when she was a baby, so I guess it's tradition now. :-) Nice for them to learn to play quietly by themselves for a while and nice for me to start my day alone in the Word.
Do you have any tricks to keeping your younger ones quietly occupied?
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