No TV!!!

Monday

Ruby's clock worked!!! I set it up yesterday and explained how it works. She is not allowed to bang on the door until the green light turns on. I did not have high hopes but it worked. At exactly 7:15 am, she banged on the door. And she had been up before. She immediately told me her clock was green. I let her play a game on my phone and we did lots of celebrating!

She did wake me up at 3 am. I went in and she was in the middle of her floor, insisting she had no water. I got her water (it had rolled under her bed) and tried to get her to get back in bed, but she said she wanted to stay on the floor so I just put her blanket on her where she was.

We had another day with no TV. No complaints this time. Maggie wanted to play Spot It, but Ruby couldn't keep up. So I worked with her to just try to understand the game. It's a visual discrimination game so we just worked on matching.

Ruby had to wash her hair because she put lotion in it (again). When she went to bed, we reviewed the new clock and how she needs to act in the morning.

Maggie and I played a new game, There's a Moose in the House. It was silly and fun. It isn't fast paced so I think Ruby could probably play it too. We'll try tomorrow.

After playing, we went to read Harry Potter but Maggie decided she wanted to read her own book instead and then fell asleep. I can't remember the last time she fell asleep on her own before 9 pm and she's done it the past two nights. Does this have to do with not watching TV? It must. Whatever, it's great. She must need the sleep.

Tuesday

The clock did not work. She started knocking around 5 am and continued off and on (off just long enough to fall back asleep, like an evil snooze alarm you cannot turn off) until her light turned green. When I went in there she told me she had peed her pants. I told her she has a potty in her room and if she has an accident she can just take off the wet stuff. I'm not sure what that's about, she's been potty trained for a long time.

The whole day was awful. I was so tired and I had a bunch of work and a paper due for class. I hate being exhausted. I picked up the girls around 5:30 and they were both exhausted. We came home and tried to play games but there was a lot of crying and fighting. Finally, we just ended up reading books.

Ruby was so overtired that she freaked out when I put her to bed and there was more crying. Awful, awful. I played one more game with Maggie and then I was done. Maggie fell asleep on my floor in a towel (she wanted to take a shower) at 8:30 and I was asleep a few minutes later.

Wednesday

Well, Ruby slept through the night and didn't knock before her alarm turned green, but Maggie woke me up at 2 am to complain she couldn't sleep. In unrelated news, I have two children for sale. Ugh!

Today has been less sleepy, I guess. I had lunch with Maggie and we just sat there like bumps on a log and I literally could not find the energy to strike up any conversation. Maggie drew, of course.

I picked the girls up and we had dinner at Braum's. We each got a burger and no one finished it. I always forget to get way less food. On Friday, I got one meal and all three of us ate it and still didn't finish it.

After dinner, we went home and I told the girls we had to walk the dogs. As we pulled up, we saw our neighbors were out. Maggie wanted to play with Dessie so they went over there while I got the dogs. They ended up coming with us on a quick walk and we played with them for a while.

At one point, Megan (the mom) said, Maggie, I was looking out my window on Friday and I saw all of your teachers. What did they come over for?

I asked, wait, didn't they come to your house? I assumed they had gone to all the students. But Megan said no. Maggie then said that each homeroom teacher had selected one student to receive a pumpkin and note that best represented the school values of ready, respectful, and responsible. So Maggie was one of only six students in the entire fifth grade who got this honor. I'm soooooooo proud of her.

After playing we came home and played There's a Moose in the House. Ruby was much better this time. Then Maggie and Ruby played for a long time. They were laughing so hard. It was great. I'm a big fan of this no TV thing. I can't believe how much happier the whole house is. Maggie even came in to help me put Ruby to bed and hugged her goodnight. That never happens.