YES DAY: April 15th, 2018
Well, readers, hell has officially froze over I think. The first reason I believe this to be true is because it is literally frozen here: we've been in a winter storm warning in April that's been bringing wind, snow, sleet, and mostly ice. I was up in the middle of the night, around 3:30am, which is my new awake time, listening to the freezing rain and watching Friends while the baby kicked me. I don't even understand why this storm is called a winter storm since it is NO LONGER WINTER. Get with the program, mother nature!
The other reason hell has froze over around here is because my children slept until 7:00am this morning! SEVEN A.M. If you've read any of my blogs about sleeping lately, you know that is NOT normal, for Nolan and Judah anyway. In fact, the last time the two of them slept until 7:00 was probably a year ago? They've only slept until 8:00 once in their entire almost five years of life. When Judah came waltzing into the room talking about bathrooming things, I assumed it was the usual 6:00 only to be SHOCKED when I looked at my clock.
We've been making all kinds of deals to try to help people sleep longer. Including, right now, where they earn marbles to put in a jar based on what time they wake up. Once the jar is filled, because the jar is pretty big, they get a big fun outing that they decide ahead of time. They are just about to earn a trip to Chuck E Cheese, which makes a fabulous gluten free pizza by the way. It's taken them a couple of months to get their jar filled. Their next one is going to a Lugnuts baseball game. Each time we start a new round of whatever we are doing, we kick up the stakes a notch too in hopes to help Nolan and Judah to keep pushing their sleep back just a little bit at a time.
Again, if I believed that 5:30 or 6:00 was the actual time their body woke itself up because it had gotten enough sleep, I wouldn't be playing these games. But I have SO much evidence to back up that my boys need more sleep including when you fall asleep at 11:00 on the way to go play with your grandparents and cousin. COME ON! They are completely different humans if they wake up past 6:30.
During all these games, one reward has held constant that I wasn't sure they would ever ever earn: A YES DAY! One of our favorite books by one of our favorite authors is Yes Day by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. It's about a boy who earned a day where he got to be told yes all day. He asked to have pizza for breakfast, if he could leave his room a mess, if he'd be able to pick out what groceries came home (he picks all sugary cereal, which my cereal-loving boys would be all about too), has a friend over for dinner, eats outside, stays up late with his dad. It's really cute. Anyway, we have told Nolan and Judah that if they actually slept until 7:00 that they could also have a yes day. We talk about it a lot, but it's never even come CLOSE to happening.
Today, though, it's here.
The excitement and pride on their faces was priceless.
Here's how our boys spent their "Yes Day":
The other reason hell has froze over around here is because my children slept until 7:00am this morning! SEVEN A.M. If you've read any of my blogs about sleeping lately, you know that is NOT normal, for Nolan and Judah anyway. In fact, the last time the two of them slept until 7:00 was probably a year ago? They've only slept until 8:00 once in their entire almost five years of life. When Judah came waltzing into the room talking about bathrooming things, I assumed it was the usual 6:00 only to be SHOCKED when I looked at my clock.
We've been making all kinds of deals to try to help people sleep longer. Including, right now, where they earn marbles to put in a jar based on what time they wake up. Once the jar is filled, because the jar is pretty big, they get a big fun outing that they decide ahead of time. They are just about to earn a trip to Chuck E Cheese, which makes a fabulous gluten free pizza by the way. It's taken them a couple of months to get their jar filled. Their next one is going to a Lugnuts baseball game. Each time we start a new round of whatever we are doing, we kick up the stakes a notch too in hopes to help Nolan and Judah to keep pushing their sleep back just a little bit at a time.
Again, if I believed that 5:30 or 6:00 was the actual time their body woke itself up because it had gotten enough sleep, I wouldn't be playing these games. But I have SO much evidence to back up that my boys need more sleep including when you fall asleep at 11:00 on the way to go play with your grandparents and cousin. COME ON! They are completely different humans if they wake up past 6:30.
During all these games, one reward has held constant that I wasn't sure they would ever ever earn: A YES DAY! One of our favorite books by one of our favorite authors is Yes Day by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. It's about a boy who earned a day where he got to be told yes all day. He asked to have pizza for breakfast, if he could leave his room a mess, if he'd be able to pick out what groceries came home (he picks all sugary cereal, which my cereal-loving boys would be all about too), has a friend over for dinner, eats outside, stays up late with his dad. It's really cute. Anyway, we have told Nolan and Judah that if they actually slept until 7:00 that they could also have a yes day. We talk about it a lot, but it's never even come CLOSE to happening.
Seriously, get this book
Today, though, it's here.
The excitement and pride on their faces was priceless.
Here's how our boys spent their "Yes Day":
- They ate ice cream sundaes for breakfast
Can we have ice cream for breakfast? Yes! - Still helped clean the house, but got to pick which things they did to help out (they were all very excited to mop the floor and be able to spray some Febreeze)
- Had Girl Scout Cookies for a snack
- Played dress up with Mommy and Daddy's clothes
Can we wear your clothes? Yes! - Got to have Pizza House for dinner
- Finished Mary Poppins
- Each boy got to pick one TV show to watch
- They really wanted to go outside, but all agreed that the freezing temperatures and ice and rain was not conducive to fun.
- Read the book Yes Day for both naps and bedtime
I may continue to desperately seek ways to squeak a few extra sleep minutes in the morning, but having incentives and rewards that make EVERYONE'S day better is such a win! I was impressed to see none of the boys take advantage of a day like this in a negative way and really choose things that would be easy to make happen and fun for all. At bedtime, they all talked about how much fun it was and how excited they were to be able to earn another one. I don't see it in the near future as 7:00am is a very late wake up call for Nolan and Judah, but they got a taste of the magic that is "Yes Day."
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