Post-It Revenge

Bobby wakes up with the larks, which is great for the larks but not so good for us. When I say he gets up early, I shouldn't be ungrateful. I know that a lot of kids with autism have severe sleep disruption. In the twins' younger days they got up far too early. Now the timing is a little more sociable.

After eight years of getting up at the crack of dawn, we've finally got to the point where Alec actually WANTS to lie in during the holidays. If it weren't for Bobby, he'd sleep in. As it is, he's forced to put the duvet over his head and block out the sound of his brother's joyous greetings to the day.

Bobby enjoys setting his Nintendo DS alarm, which has a Mario clock with it. More recently, he's somehow managed to sample the sound of Rayman Raving Rabbid shouting 'DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!' and now likes to wake up to this instead.

The straw that broke the camel's back came on Sunday morning when he walked into our bedroom, planted his Nintendo 3DS inches from my ear, and woke ME up with 'DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!'

My Social Story 'When I Wake Up' about being a little bit quieter on getting up (and not crashing down the stairs like an elephant singing the Smiths crisps advert from 1980 loudly and shouting DAAH) wasn't quite as effective as I'd hoped. So this morning, I left this note on our bedroom door.

'BOBBY - KNOCK ON THE DOOR AT 8'OCLOCK. DON'T WAKE US UP. TRY TO BE VERY QUIET. IF YOU DO, YOU GET 3 STARS! (YOU CAN GO DOWNSTAIRS IF QUIET WITH THE TELY)  MUM XXXX'

Apart from a knock on the door at 7.30am which I replied to, all was quiet. Bobby is saving up for Super Mario 2 and if he gets 5 good behaviour/independence stars then he gets £1. At school they call this basic bribery 'reward systems'. What the heck, it works.

Pleased with myself, I got up at 8am and went to get the twins up and congratulate Bobby with his stars.

I was abruptly met with a closed door (unusual) and a Post-It stuck on it. The Post-It, in Bobby's best hand-writing, read:

DO NOT DITURB UNTIL 8:30AM

Touche. Guffawing into my hand, I went downstairs, but respected his wishes, posted his stars under the door and returned at 8.30am. I knocked delicately on his door and waited for a while (if I want him to respect us, I've got to respect him). I knocked again. There was a brief scuffle and then Bobby opened the door a crack.

"Didn't you read my note?"

"Er - I did yes, but it's 8.35am."

"Oh." Another brief scuffle. I wasn't used to this very 'cool' attitude, which Bobby conducted in all seriousness wearing his fluffy black earmuffs, which he likes to sleep in. He returned carrying some toys and began to walk downstairs.

"Humph. I need more sleep than you, you know."

Bobby: 1
Mummy: 0