Self-Sufficiency

Rick and I have been marveling about how self-sufficient Palmer has been in the mornings as of late.

For some time, we've been telling Palmer he can't come downstairs until "the sun is awake".  Gradually, Palmer's definition and our definition of the sun being awake did not quite match up.  Couple that with the sun rising earlier thanks to every parent's favorite time change and we decided to get a clock that could assist with wake up time.

Meet our clock, the magic bunny.  The bunny "sleeps" all night and in the morning "wakes up".

Lately, here's the daily morning routine:

At some time during the 6:00 hour, Rick and I hear little feet run (Palmer never walks in his life, only runs) to the bathroom, we hear the toilet seat slam down, water run from the faucet, and then more running back into bed.

If I choose to open my eyes at this point, I can watch Palmer on the monitor climb back into his bed.  Then he goes back and forth for the next hour or so between sleeping and sitting up to check and see if his "bunny is awake".

As soon (AS SOON) as the bunny wakes up, we hear Palmer run (again, never walking in this house) down the stairs and to our room happily yelling, "The sun is awake! The bunny is awake! The bunny is awake!"

This happy proclamation is always followed with, "I need milk."  Then, Palmer leaves our room, goes to the kitchen, and gets his pre-poured milk cup out of the fridge.  With the milk cup in hand, he climbs into our bed.

Rick and I keep pinching ourselves that during that whole time, we never got out of bed(!).  How nice is this??

All three of us hang out in the bed and watch the Today Show (old habits die hard) for another 30 minutes or so.

Now, if only the dog could let himself out and fill his own water bowl.  I'm definitely gonna have to teach Palmer how to do all of that for Boston soon...

-Bethany