Gro clocks .... what do you do with them ??

[rockyroadahead]

ds is 2.6 has never been a great sleeper but is in a good routine now except getting up at anything between 5 and 7 am

he goes to bed at 8 pm this has been pushed gradually to this time as the mornings began to get earlier .
we go upstairs at 7.30 bath, moisturise, story , milk , cuddle and bed !
most of the time he goes straight down but if anything interferes with the routine for example if someone is round or if anything is different or if he hears the other parent go upstairs he wont go straight down and will need to be directed back to bed a few times .

he sleeps straight through un til 5 at the earliest but his waking time is anything between 5 and 7 ish he will call for mummy and daddy and will then cry if we don't get there quick enough.

he will then have a nap at 10 am we have tried to get rid of the nap in hope he may sleep longer but he gets extremely tired and changes his personality massively when he hasn't had a nap he will misbehave ,wine constantly and become very clumsy.

when he has stayed at grans (in bed) or godmothers (in travel cot ) he sleeps until 8 - 8.30 and I cant figure out why he sleeps so much longer when out .

we bought a gro clock a while ago and sort of started using it but then ds was not very well so we gave up and havn't brought it back out yet as I just don't know where to begin with it and how to keep it consistent

Is he still in a cot or a bed? Ds has been in a bed since 2 so began coming into our bedroom early. We bought him a glo clock and I took about a week of us setting it to a certain time (we started off setting it for only 10 mins past his usual wake time) and putting him back in bed repeatedly if he got out, explaining to him that he must stay in his room till the sun came out. Then we just made a huge fuss of him when he managed to do it. Once he got used to the idea of it, we moved the wake up time back gradually. The key is to be absolutely consistent and not allow them out of bed until the sun is out. Ds has never really called out to us though, even when in a cot he would happily chzt to his teddies. I have to say it has worked like a dream, but you have to stick with it. Clearly when he's poorly we stop using it though.

And black out blinds help. Is his grans house darker in the mornings? I would also put a lot of effort into getting him to nap at lunchtime instead of morning.

I'd agree with everything matana has said: use blackouts, be consistent, draw their attention to the stars if they get up etc.
We do bath, milk, story then bed so the groclock story is the last story that he hears before bed. We did this for a week and now we just read the story every now and again. Good luck

thanx for the help .... he does have black out blinds in his room but not at grans so grans is actually lighter (same curtains as when I met Dp and used to share his single bed together .. was very light in the mornings ).

as for setting the clock 10 mins later each day this is the part I am struggling with the most as he wakes up at a completely different time each day thus I am confused where to start with this

also we started potty training last thurs, we're on our 5th day still got a few wet ones is wearing pull ups only at night and nap time . should I wait until we are fully potty trained to bring out the clock again

I would set the clock to a realistic time you want him to get up. We just made a big fuss of the clock and saying bye bye to the sun and if he shouted for us before the sun came out we would just tell him it wasn't morning yet and leave again. He was quick to get it. He just plays with the toy he chooses at bedtime to take with him every night. He is now 3 but we started at around 2.7.
I would just go for it and be strict about it not being time to get up until the sun comes out.

am close the throwing my gro clock out I'm afraid. DS gets it, likes it, is pleased if he happens to stay asleep until the sun comes up but WILL NOT take any notice of it in terms of staying in bed until it comes up if he wakes up early, no matter what we try. I've tried all manner of bribes / rewards / sanctions etc, but if he is awake, that's it. We don't want him making too much noise and waking up his sister.

We have the gro clock and it's been brilliant - we started off setting it for 7am - DS3 would wake around then or slightly before but sometimes as much as 5.30-6am. We'd always put him back to bed if it was before 7 so he was used to that being wake up time. We've had the clock since he was 3.5yo so a bit older than your little one. He's now 6 and we still use it - he knows that if there is one star left he can read until it's time to get up. Even though he can now tell the time we still use it and are greeted at our bedroom door at 7.10am by a little voice saying "My sun is awake"