The Alarm Clock Experiment

Today marked the second morning of the alarm clock experiment. The results were mixed, which causes a problem.

On the first morning, the girls woke at 6:45 a.m. (with Jay & I giggling in the hallway) to "It's The Best Day Ever" by Spongebob Squarepants. Amanda opened her eyes, sat up and smiled immediately. Elizabeth turned over, pulled the covers over her head and grumped "way too annoying." Amanda bounced to the music and said "I feel like this really is gonna be the best day ever!"

This was very odd considering Amanda is usually the morning grumper and Elizabeth is generally without a.m. complaints. Elizabeth is usually up, dressed and informing us about her day before Amanda can even muster a facial expression.

So, let's try this again.

On the second morning, the girls woke at 6:45 a.m. (Jay & I were already downstairs caffeinating) to "It's The Best Day Ever" by Spongebob Squarepants. Elizabeth was first downstairs and she was visibly irritated. She peered out from behind a wall of her own hair and spat "music in the morning? So annoying! I would rather have beeping!" But then it was quiet, and Amanda never came downstairs. For 30 minutes she sat in her bed, smiling, daydreaming, and bouncing to music.

So here we are. I'm not sure how it will turn out. I know that I've tapped into something very valuable with Amanda and I won't give it up. But the girls are already fighting. Fighting about beeping vs. music, fighting about the very existence of alarm clocks, the color of alarm clocks, even fighting about whether sharing a room was such a good idea in the first place. Ouch.

This has gone deeper than I had anticipated. This I know for sure: (1) I'm an idiot for stirring the pot so soon; (2) summer starts in 2 weeks rendering all alarm clock arguments moot; (3) I don't care what anyone says, my song choice was genius and payback is a witch with a capital B; and (3) Jay has to repaint that nightstand.