Things I Love Thursdays: OK To Wake! Owl

Okay, so this isn't the most exciting "Thing I Love" of all time, but as a preggo mommy who is already sleep deprived, it's been a life saver. As you know, we've been traveling a lot, and that's meant a lot of disruptions in Jack's sleep schedule. He gave up napping at some point in the last two months, which sucks, but hey, we made it four years. I guess I should be grateful. And then Jack decided it would be fun to start waking up several times a night, every night, and coming into my room to wake me up. Turns out we have very different ideas of fun. I needed something to keep him in bed that was both effective and humane, and I'd been thinking of one of those child alarm clocks for a long time. Then I came across the OK To Wake! Owl on Amazon.

The OK To Wake! Owl

Basically, it's like an alarm clock for your kid, but it doesn't wake them up. It just keeps them in bed. If they press his tummy before the designated time (as determined by a parental unit and programmed into the back of the owl), the owl tells them it's not time to get up yet and glows yellow, then plays soothing music for 5, 15, or 30 minutes (your choice). If they press his tummy after the designated wake up time (7:30 a.m. for us), he glows green and tells your kid it's okay to wake up now. Simple, yet surprisingly effective. And unlike an alarm clock, it won't wake them up automatically. If they sleep past the wake time, nothing happens until they wake up and press the button. Brilliant!

Jack named his owl "John Alex" (I think this had something to do with his new John Deere ride-on tractor and the fact that he has a cousin named Alex) and he LOVES him. The owl is bigger than you'd think and pretty cute, so I figure it's extra value for the money, since it basically serves as a stuffed animal. The other alarm clocks for kids aren't cheap, and John Alex is available for $25 on Amazon. It took one time of Jack waking up in the middle of the night and me reminding him to push John Alex's tummy to see if it was time to get up yet for Jack to get the hang of it. It's really dark in the mornings here in Montana so I think that was causing some of the confusion. Since John Alex came into our life a couple weeks ago, Jack has stayed in bed all night every night for the most part, and I've gotten some much-needed sleep. And hey, there's even a special nap alarm if your kid is still napping (you lucky dog, you).

So there's my free parenting tip of the week! Now let's see what happens when we add a screaming infant into the equation...