For Christmas this year, the kids got iPods. Abby’s been using hers for an alarm for a while now, which is a mystifying use of the iPod to me. I’m really taking this as the first signs that I’m getting irretractably old - I like watches and traditional alarm clocks, and don’t understand the use of cell phones and iPods as primary timekeeping devices.

Riley, on the other hand, is not taking to the alarm as well as Abby. At first, we were having trouble getting him to charge his iPod because, unlike Abby who already had a clock with a built-in dock, he was plugging his into the wall near his bed on a short cord, and would often forget to charge it. More than that, since it’s only using the iPod speaker, it wasn’t loud enough to rouse him from sleep when the alarm went off.

I have since acquired an LED clock with a charging dock and speakers, which is not only a good place to dock and charge the iPod regularly, but also a way to get the required volume for getting the boy out of slumber. At least, that’s what we expected.

At first, we were using the pinball noises as the alarm. It turns out that this is simply not loud enough. When there’s heavy rain, the pinball noises are hardly louder than the drops hitting the roof. This is not enough to wake up Riley, who definitely takes after his dad in terms of wanting to get out of bed in the morning. We’re both late sleepers.

We’ve now set the alarm to the “alarm” sound, which should be renamed “klaxon” because it sounds like some kind of biohazard alarm. When plugged into the dock and ringing, it is audible from anywhere in the house. Like the basement. This is still only just scratching the surface of wakedness for Riley, though, since the alarm went through two full cycles this morning before he apparently yanked it out of the dock, tossed it on the floor and went back to bed.