Dear Daylight Saving Time...

Dear Daylight Saving Time,

I typically like you better in the fall when you bring me an hour of extra sleep (at least at one point in my life, you did), but I've never been too upset about losing the one hour each spring. Most people are really excited about the extra daylight in the evening.

Parents of young children quickly learn the beginning and end of Daylight Saving Time is a little more complex than just moving the clock ahead or behind. For little ones who are on a pretty solid schedule, it can be a guessing game of how to adjust.

I decided to get Lauren up in time for 8 a.m. church service, figuring it would be a good way to get her used to getting up and out the door with Daddy on Monday morning. So I woke her up at what felt to her like 6 a.m., which was really 7 a.m. after the clocks moved forward.

The morning went fine until we got close to her midday nap. She usually goes down around 11:30 a.m. Clever Lauren has learned that the longer she takes to eat lunch, the more she can delay taking her nap. So thanks to her delay tactics and insisting she was "not all done," plus trying to compensate for what time I thought she thought it really was, we were running a bit behind. Then, a wonderful surprise! Lauren's babysitter also works for the sinfully delicious bakery, Your Perfect Cake, and she dropped by with some awesome cupcakes, even one personalized with Lauren's name on it. Lauren was psyched. The child loves birthday cake and cupcakes more than almost anything. If you mention there is a birthday party coming up, her response is always, "Birthday cake?"

So I laid Lauren down for her nap with visions of sugary cupcakes dancing in her heads, since she was told she could have her babysitter's fabulous gift after her nap. While I started to get caught up on housework, the minutes ticked away, and Lauren was still talking, singing and playing in her crib. Thirty minutes passed. An hour passed. Ninety minutes passed, and sometime soon after that, the vision on the monitor's screen was of a sweet sleeping toddler.

Lauren didn't fall asleep until about 1:30 p.m., but in her mind, it was only 12:30 p.m., so she wasn't that far off. As her nap continued, I found myself watching the clock again. Was she really still sleeping? Two hours passed. Then three hours went by. Lauren's nap was getting dangerously close to her bedtime. I might be less tied to Lauren getting to bed on time if it was not so directly related to me getting to bed on time (my alarm goes off at 1 a.m.). However, at some point, I decided not to worry too much about trying to recalibrate Lauren's internal clock. After all, a few days at day care this week, with lots of toddlers getting adjusted, would probably do the trick.

So Lauren got to bed about an hour late, but in her mind, it was right on time. As I sat down with my husband to watch a few minutes of TV before trotting myself off to bed, I heard Lauren yelling. She wasn't crying, but she was yelling, as loud as she could, over and over again. I had no clue what she was saying, but this was unusual. When I went her room, her jammies were zipped down, and she saying, "Diaper off! Diaper off!" The tape on one side of her diaper had come loose. I have to say: I'm grateful she sounded the alarm. Discovering her diaper came off in the morning would have not been a very fun way to start Monday! In contrast, finding Lauren spazzing about a diaper malfunction was a pretty hilarious way to end my day, and it's making me giggle today as well.

So, Daylight Saving Time, we have not adjusted well to you yet. Not even a little bit. The good news is, it can only get easier from here....until we move the clocks back in the fall.

Oh, and please tell the batteries in the smoke detectors, they're on my list.

Lauren's Mommy

About the Author...
Heather King
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