Sometimes, it doesn’t take much to make me smile. When Vince and I got married, we had a two story house. Chad and I had been living in a one story house. I never realized the routine of getting him up on time in our small, one story house. I was near his bedroom door and could keep saying “Chad, get up” until I was sure he was up. But, when Vince and I got married and Chad and I moved to his house, I was making a dozen trips up and down the stairs to make sure Chad was up. I’d run down to his room, say “Get up!” He would say “OK” and I’d run back to the kitchen to get breakfast going, then run back down to Chad’s room to be sure he was up. No, he wasn’t! I’d tell him again to get up, he would say ok. I would run back upstairs to finish breakfast, run back down and that went on and on. Finally, I sat down with Chad and said “Here’s the new rule! This is your alarm clock. You set it to whatever time it needs to be set so you can be up, dressed, ready for school and at the breakfast table by 6:30.” I went on to explain that for every day he wasn’t at the table, dressed and with his backpack, ready to leave, he would go to bed 30 minutes earlier that night because I could only assume that he was not getting up on time because he had not gotten enough sleep! The first few weeks, that did not go so well and I thought he was going to get home from school and go right to bed but he finally got the hang of it and I was able to not make all those trips up and down the stairs while trying to get breakfast done and Vince and Chad out the door.
This morning, I said “Echo, turn on bedroom lamp.” She said “OK” and the lamp never came on. I again said “Echo, turn on bedroom lamp” and she again said “OK” but never turned on the lamp. So, at 5:30, I’m sitting on the side of the bed, in the dark, remembering almost 20 years ago when Chad would tell me “OK! I’m getting up!” and he wouldn’t do it.
Thanks, Echo Dot, for a smile at 5:30 a.m.
Tee says
Aww, Alexa wanted to sleep in. Have you tried to really “talk” to her? I have her tell me jokes (most of them are really bad) and I love it when she is so sweet. I always say thank you and she responds. It’s a bit creepy, but fun too!!!
shirley swift-bruner says
what a precious memory. i guess you got your exercise going up and down those stairs.
Chrispy says
I love this post. You brought a smile to my face as well!
Linda in NE says
I don’t see any reason to get up at 5:30 anyway. 🙂 Anybody up that early fixes their own breakfast.
Sherrill Pecere says
So was the bulb burned out or was Alexa just not cooperating? I could probably use one of those..someone to talk to since the cat never answers me! LOL
Rebecca in SoCal says
Well, Echo is exceeding expectations! (grin)
I remember when I had a mechanical toy cat with “a mind of its own”. Turned out that meant sometimes it wouldn’t respond. Hmmph
It sounds like you had a really good solution (to Chad’s not-getting-up), complete with back-up for when he didn’t get up. No wonder he turned out well
TerriS says
One of my kids was just awful to get ready for school in the morning. He got up okay, but he would fool around and fool around and make us late every day. Finally, one day I told him if he wasn’t ready in five minutes I was going to drive him to school in his pajamas and push him out of the car in front of the school and HE could explain it to his teachers and friends. He wasn’t ready, so I took him out to the car in his pajamas, threw his clothes in the back seat with him and left for school which was 2 blocks away. He was dressed by the time we got there!! It was never a problem again because he knew I meant it. This was my middle kid, the one I wasn’t sure I would survive. He’s dad to my two grandchildren now, and is a great dad, He was a real challenge, but he was worth it!!
Dar in MO says
This post made me laugh. I love your stories about Chad and when you got to Alexa not turning on the lamp, it cracked me up. I too want to know why she didn’t obey you .