obedience

I slept in today. My alarm went off at 7:00, and I turned it off, since my son is reliably awake by 8:00. I figured I'd just doze until then.

Flash forward until sun is streaming into my room. I bolt upright, thinking, "What time is it? Blake's slept a LONG time." Upon looking at my alarm clock, I see that it is 9:27. Immediately behind the alarm clock is my baby monitor, which I use nightly, since the fan I keep in the room (for white noise) drowns out any loud neighbors...but it also drowns out my wee man. The baby monitor is not on. THE BABY MONITOR IS NOT ON!

I flick it on while swinging my legs over the edge of my bed, convinced that my son is screaming blue murder, or has let himself out of the room and out of the house. Instead, I hear him sweetly hollering, "Momma...where are you?" like he does every morning. When I jolt into the room, he just says, "Hi!" like, nice to see you, I'd like some breakfast please, preferably something with syrup, or maybe a pop-tart!

No tear stains, no hoarseness, and no toys/books strewn about the room. My only conclusion: he stayed in bed until I came to get him.

I can't stress how important this is. Blake has let himself out of the house twice, once at 7:30 am, when he figured out that he could not only climb down out of his big boy bed, but he could open a mere TWO doors to freedom! Lane found him pretending to weed whack out in the common element lawn. He made a break for it one other time, and the resulting discipline must have been very memorable. He knows that he is not to open the door unless I give him permission, and I know that I need deadbolts. I know.

And yet, an hour and a half after he's normally up and at 'em, little man Blake was patiently waiting for me exactly where he was supposed to be. He didn't even come to get me (which he has also done before, but that isn't breaking any rules). The wonderful results:

My son is capable of impressive obedience.

I got a great night's sleep!