This is just something I wanted to share with the group (haha) and am far behind on my random thoughts..... I bought this for Garrett this summer:

And by 'bought', I mean 'search out on the www, ordered from overseas, and payed more than was worth'. Somewhere after the time change, after the transition to big-boy-bed, and before potty-training... "mr. independent" (I use this term loosely, as he is still the child who would crawl inside my shirt if he smelled a nursery or unknown sitter within a 5 mile radius) started getting up with the chickens!! And me and Lilah, who also gets up at an unholy hour. So it wasn't so much that he was waking me up, it was just that I felt he needed to be sleeping longer-- I won't bore you with all the details on why I thought this to be true. Besides, everyone knows that true parenting genius involves trickery, superstition, bribery, and threats to get your child to sleep longer than they want and/or need to survive.

This is funny (to me) because I was so excited about this clock (sheep sleeps during set sleep times, and hikes during nap times--a stroke of genius, right?) and like most of my 'ideas', didn't quite pan out in the way I had envisioned (i.e. obedient and silent child waiting in bed until sheep starts hiking). The first night he said "ok", but woke up the next morn way before scheduled time and I made him stay in bed until time (screaming). The next night I checked on him in the night and the clock was shut and shoved under his pillow. The third morning he again woke up early and I said , "Garrett, where's your clock? What's sheep doing?". Garrett: "Ugh, nope. I turned that clock off". The equivalent of giving me, my controlling ideas, and the stupid sheep clock the finger.

And, like so many things...just when I was about to sell him to a band of traveling gypsies, he started sleeping until a respectable hour....all on his own. So, if anyone wants a 'sheep clock'....I'll sell you mine for a discount.:)