The first solves a really old problem...how to get the preschooler to stay in her room until the sun comes up. Both my children wake up when the light penetrates their curtains and it was really becoming a problem for A to stay in her room. We had used an alarm clock that would play music when it was okay for her to come out, but she never knew how much longer it was going to be until the music came on. I saw a really fancy preschool alarm clock online that had several different lights to go on/off at various times plus music. Looked brilliant, except for the $50 price tag. J said he could rig up something similar with a plug-in timer that we use for Christmas lights. Voila! He plugged a dim bedside lamp into the timer and programmed it to come on at 6:45 am and go off at 7:00 am. The idea is you stay in your bed until the light comes on, and you can leave the room when it goes off. Works wonderfully! Goodbye to the 4-6 interruptions between 6-7 am asking, "Can I get up and play yet? Now? Now can I get up? How many more minutes until I can get up?" Genius!
I found the second idea while searching for ideas to compile "busy box" activities for C to do while I am doing reading lessons with A. Another mom mentioned using a small, inflatable pool to let the toddler play with rice, beans, buttons, beads, etc. while mom is nearby helping the older child. Genius! Especially since I already had the pool and the rice. Only problem was keeping the older kid out of the fun.
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