Alarm Clock Shock

My children are pretty heavy sleepers. We've had many thunderstorms, false alarms on the security system, and other similar events that registered on the Richter scale that my precious little zombies have slept right through. After many unsuccessful tries as babies, they now have sleeping down to a fine art.

When Emma started 2nd grade, her Grandma bought her this cute little doggie alarm clock. At the set time, the dog gets up from a reclining position and barks in this friendly voice until she wakes up and shuts him off. Waking her up with an alarm clock was so wonderful because it saved me the begging and nagging to get her up by myself. Emma is more awake and marginally more pleasant to be around when she wakes this way.

It only makes sense that Santa thought Luke needed an alarm clock, too. Santa knew that Luke totally digs Spongebob, so that's what kind of alarm he got last Christmas. It's kind of cute in its own sponge-y kind of way. You can choose if you want to hear the radio, seagulls, a catchy marimba tune, a FOGHORN (not kidding), or a ukelele. Spongebob's face pops up (not unlike a jack-in-the-box) at alarm time. It's very, very loud when he pops up. Hence, this explains the stack of bedtime books that now live on top of it to keep it from popping out at you like a serial killer in a bad horror flick.

The first time I set the alarm, Luke asked for ukelele. As I made breakfast the next morning, I heard Emma's alarm go off, followed by Luke's. Emma and I were laughing at the ukelele tune which played over and over and over and over and over...until I realized Luke must be sleeping through all that noise! How was it even possible? I sprinted trudged up the stairs, laughing at what a zombie boy my son was. This is what I found:

He was all curled up in a ball with his hands over his ears making this face! (I can totally relate, though. That's how I feel EVERY morning when my alarm goes off.) How pitiful is that? (This is a re-enactment, by the way. I was laughing too hard the first time to think about taking his picture.)

It's not over yet. Day two with alarm clock--we have now learned that it is important to keep books on top of Spongebob's head. Check. Got it set on marimba because it is truly the least offensive sound that this thing makes. Check. What I didn't anticipate was what a cloudy, rainy day it was. In fact, it was still quite dark when the 6:40 alarm rolled around for Mr. Sensitive Zombie Sleeper.

I held my breath as I heard his alarm shut off. Emma and I watched with anticipation as his bedroom door was flung open. We observed the foul look on his face as he stomped out of his room, glared out the window at the sky, and shook his fist as he yelled, "It's P.M.!! P.M.!!! NOT A.M.!!! YOU SET MY CLOCK FOR P.M.!!! I'M GOING BACK TO BED!" Then he stalked back in his room and slammed the door shut. That was a fun morning.