Silence

Reagan, our lightest sleeper, has the unfortuante distinction of having her bedroom right off the living room.  The noisiest place in the house.  It is a terrible location, and she wakes up at the slightest HINT of her brother's or Dad's voices (my voice she's able to ignore and sleep through.  Imagine that).  Mornings are awful, with boys running around like banshees, and Mom screaming (because she can sleep through my voice) "BOYS!  BE QUIET OR YOU'LL WAKE YOUR SISTER UP!!!"  I have threatened serious punishment for noise infractions in the morning.  Because when little girl wakes up early, she screams and demands attention that, quite frankly, I just don't have in the mad rush to get on snow clothes and out to the bus in time.  This morning, we decided to have a "quiet contest", and I told the boys that they could use sign language or write anything they needed to say, but I wanted not a word from out of their mouths.

They were really getting into the sign language, and kept signing "MOM! MOM!"  to get my attention, which I thought was  funny, because I could just close my eyes or turn my back, and ... viola!  The incessant call was gone!  I looooooovvved it.  I taught them to sign food, and it was hilarious seeing them mime "peanut butter and jelly sandwich".  We finger spelled their names, and learned the sign for milk, drink, and eat.  Despite our best efforts, Reagan STILL woke up early - a crabby addition to an already hectic morning.  Great.  She is NOT a ray of sunshine in the morning.

These are some snippets from our morning:
Quinn: "Mom, how do you laugh in sign language?"
Quinn: "Mom, if I stick up my middle toe, is it still a swear?"
Colby: signing "I am OK" and making a sandwich with his hands and pretending to eat it.

Funny boys.  I would love to have them proficient enough in sign language OR writing that we could have a quiet morning.  Maybe it's more for me than Reagan.