Mommy hacks: Sleep Apps

When Crosby was a baby, I asked his pediatrician if he had any hot tips for how I could go back to sleep after waking up in the middle of the night. He told me that there are a lot of studies showing white noise is helpful for adult sleep. I have since developed some hacks that might be helpful for my friends on the internet who, like me, are trying to optimize both their sleep and phone use. "Optimize" for my phone means dealing with it as little as possible.

As Germany is very behind in digitalization, they are also behind on what I would call "tech manners". For example, teachers or summer camps often send emails on a Sunday evening or even late evening expecting that parents will check email before kids go to school or camp early the next morning. I believe this level of connectivity is not currently expected in the US, if it ever was. (Readers - feel free to correct me if I am wrong.) I would also say that Germany is about ten years behind in setting tech boundaries for teenagers with the intention of helping them develop social skills. For example, Crosby's art camp let students use headphones during the day much to the detriment of actually having kids connect with one another.

With that context in mind, I find it especially important that Paul and I model good screen etiquette at home. Siri and Alexa have been helpful as we can have them play music or answer questions without pulling out our phones. When it comes to bedtime, we have a few apps that truly make our lives better in a couple ways. 

The first app is Sun to Moon Sleep Clock. The concept is easy. The moon shows when the kids should stay in bed. When the sun comes up at 6 am, then kids can get out of bed. I played around with letting the kids dress up the moon and sun but Carmen has mostly ignored this app for the better part of six months. But, last week I found this blonde wig and voila "mommy sun".

Our "stay-in-bed past 6 am" rate has improved dramatically.

Because I don't like looking at my phone first thing in the morning, I started sleeping with a quiet white noise that turns off at 6 am. When she walks in my room in the morning I listen for the white noise. I don't hear the sound, I know that she's slept long enough.

Somehow brown noise seems less abrasive than white noise.

The white noise timer is also super helpful for the boys when they need to nap. I set the sleep time for 20-30 minutes and tell them they need to lay down as long as they hear the noise. I also recommend it in the middle of the night if you are doing "Le Pause" aka giving the baby time to settle herself. I would set the timer for five minutes during a fuss fest.  If it went silent while the baby was still fussing then I'd pick her up. 

Our bedtimes with the kids have just been dragging out, so last night we tried our routine with the help of a "sleep playlist". I put together this playlist using apple music. (We recently switched from Spotify over the Joe Rogan nonsense.) This is the basic nighttime plan:

5:30 Dinner

7:00ish - or earlier, the kids can get in bed as early as they want to read more before the playlist

7:30 Playlist

7:50 Adults leave the room

Paul looked into some elaborate timer app, but putting doubles of songs that add up to 5, 5, and 10 minutes seems to do the trick.

The playlist goes like this:

5 minutes - Hugo picks massage/book/story/or he can just talk while the rain sounds play

5 minutes - Crosby picks massage/book/story/or he can just talk while the ocean sounds play

10 minutes - Snuggling while "noise" plays

I just snuggle Carmen while all of this is happening. This new plan is also nice because the kids can be as wiggly as they want during the whole process. We don't have to constantly remind them to stop moving because when the white noise stops playing, the adults are out of there. We also don't care how long they are up wiggling and chatting after we leave because PB^2's work is done. 

Also, Crosby got some Carmen snuggles, which is always a win for him. With any luck, we'll be seeing more of this:

Crosby's First Piano Recital

Crosby thought he lucked out skipping his end-of-year recital because Paul and I were still in isolation. He isn't a big fan of piano, but mostly because his lesson interrupts his snack time. I can understand his concern. 

But, luckily his teacher planned another recital with her private students not from the German-Latinamerican Music Academy. The academy has an agreement with the school so that teachers can give students private lessons during school hours. In Crosby's case, the last hour of his day is always free time. On Wednesdays his teacher comes to the school, gives him a lesson, and then he comes home at a normal time. Revolutionary. I don't have to take him anywhere. I just direct deposit 70 Euros / 75 USD a month and let it ride. I believe that other music academies outside the school are more subsidized but the convenience is 100% worth it. Also, his instruction is in Spanish, which is fun.

Crosby's recital was in a fire station turned performing arts/ community center. The building has a similar history to many in the city - interesting building built in the 1890s, fell into disrepair under East German management, and then was renovated in the 1990s. Also similar to other buildings, there is no air conditioning. He and the other students got aquatinted with the piano for an hour, and then I came up for the recital. When I got there, Crosby told me he had a stomach ache.

Per usual, I gave him the tough love and sent him up on stage:

Seen here: nailing his first song "Fireman".

The second song "Piano Star" he had a couple rough spots but kept going.

His third song he had to stop, put his head in his hands, and audibly say "whoops". I don't know if it's a Corona thing, or a German thing, or being an adult so I notice thing - but most of the kids messed up some part of their songs. As such, Crosby fit right in. I turned off my video and missed Crosby bowing three times and then jumping off the stage like a rock star. You'll just have to imagine it...

I told Crosby that we could go to lunch wherever he wanted after the recital. I was bummed that he just wanted to head home because his stomach still hurt. One block from our apartment, Crosby filled an Ikea plastic bag with the contents of his stomach. The poor dude then proceeded to pass out in my bed for the next two hours. Was it nerves, heat, a stomach bug? We'll find out on round two. You think this mom is going to give him a pass on the next recital? No chance.

Breaking out

This pretty much sums-up how we're feeling around here:

The red circle around Hugo's eye is clearly "Zane's Robot Eye" from Ninjago in face paint and not a black eye. 

But as you can see from the photo, we are not in our house. This was Thursday, my first day out in 10 days.  I left Hugo asleep on the bike in-front of the school, threw Carmen on my shoulders, masked-up, ran into the courtyard to cheer on Crosby's class as he sang a rousing rendition of some song that says "brah, brah, brah", and then we ran out of there. I was allowed to leave my house irrespective of my corona results. However with a very fine line, I wasn't interested in seeing how long this variant is really contagious.

Paul was home one more day until Friday.

I'm pretty well dedicated to phoning in the rest of the school year activities because I just don't have a lot in the tank. However, I was especially bummed that we missed out on time with some friends visiting from Portland. They arrived on Wednesday when I was still in quarantine and flew out today, Saturday. But, I did write them out a sample three day Prenzlauerberg-centric itinerary whilst staying at the Oderberger Hotel. Below is a mix of solo time and Biggs' time:

Arrival:

- Drop off your stuff

- East Germany Museum at the Kulturbrauerei - this brewery turned cultural center is cool. This is two blocks from your hotel and free. It gives a cute little overview of life in East Germany.

- German Dinner option: two blocks from your hotel - real German food - pork knuckle is big here.

- Evening - walk through Mauerpark. It’s a scene.

Day 1:

- Breakfast at hotel while Paige ditches kids.

- Paige comes to hotel for a Prenzlauerberg walking tour.

- 12:30 Paige leaves for German class/kid-pickup

- 2:00 Walking tour:  the walking tour starts at the iconic Brandenburg gate and you see all the things.

    Piggybacking on that walking tour:

        Under the memorial for murdered jews of Europe there is an exhibit. It is small but interesting and     free. 

        This would be a longer walk through the "Central Park of Berlin" but a nice beer garden option if you want some green space time.

- Dinner option:  also right next to your hotel. The schnitzel is great. It’s slow. You’ll need to sit outside. 

Day 2:

- Guests choice, walking with Paige:

        1. Berlin wall memorial - this is basically a walk outside your hotel

        2. Walk around Prenzlauerberg - I’ll show you the cool stuff

        3. Arkona park - Friday there is a market, also right by your hotel. Also, in the Jewish Quarter.

        4. Walk around Mitte (where the cool kids hang out) and see a beautiful synagogue.

- 12:30 Paige leaves for German class, kid-pick / Paul can still hang out. If you’re in Mitte maybe you want to hit some museums on museum island? This is my favorite. 

- 5:30ish - Pizza with kids here - right on the corner of your hotel

Must eat street food:

Döner - a döner is a kabab in German bread. It’s like a German burrito in that it’s of Turkish origin but not found in Turkey. By your hotel option.

Currywurst is a famous Berlin sausage. Any sausage from a cart will also be a winner. The original is by the hotel.

Did we follow this itinerary? No. But did we have fun? 

 

I think yes.