I'm told that when it comes to sleep patterns, some kids are timers, some are alarm clocks. Meaning regardless of when they go to sleep, "Team Timer" will always wake up X amount of time later, and "Team Alarm" will always wake up at the same time. My kids are alarm clocks, and David's is set very early. Ridiculously early. As in, sometimes he's awake when Nathan's leaving for seminary at 5:45. When he was in diapers, we just kept his bedroom door locked to make sure he wasn't getting into mischief until we woke up. After he needed the freedom to emerge and use the modern marvel of indoor plumbing, however, we took a different approach.
I bought him a bedside clock and we stressed emphatically that he could get up to use the bathroom, but otherwise he needed to stay in bed until 7:00. If he woke up, go back to sleep. Stay in bed. But whatever he did, unless there was a dire emergency, he was not to come bounding into our room before 7:00 under pain of death.
Now, we happen to know that he's usually out of bed by 6:30, a fact merely confirmed when Nathan started teaching seminary last year. He often just goes downstairs and reads. We wake up briefly and notice a light on, or hear him playing, but we figure as long as he leaves us alone and doesn't wake up Daniel, there's not much we can (or care to) do about it. However, when we notice he's up especially early and ask him what time he woke up, he, brainwashed with our ultimatum, always answers straight-faced that he got up at 7:00.
Today he was acting very tired while we were on an outing. On the way home, as David looked on the verge of falling asleep in the car, Nathan asked him what time he got up. "And don't say 7:00, because we know you were up earlier." David hesitated a moment and then replied, "6:59..."
