Sleep Buddies

The fine young three and five year old gents are participating in a sleep study through Oregon Social Learning Center. That's a sleep buddy there in the picture, a wrist puppet with a computer inside that's measuring movement during sleep. The purpose of this study is to measure their sleep patterns and sleep-related hormones in their saliva, which means that I get to collect spit samples in the morning and evening. Nifty!

On Friday the puppets were dropped off, along with two very organized notebooks full of instructions and questionnaires and a couple pencil boxes of equipment, mostly gum and stickers. I was concerned that fine young gent, three, would have nothing to do with this sleep buddy business, no matter how cute the puppet. His cool and confident older brother is always up for a new adventure, but the little guy isn't much of one for trying new things. One little peek at the wrist puppet and the matching bath puppet that will be his to keep was all it took. Well, one little peek and then....having to wait two whole days to actually wear the puppet. And my guys? More excited that there's a computer inside than they are about the cutesy little fish and octopus. Yup, they're their daddy's boys through and through.

Now if only I can get them to chew on a piece of cotton before breakfast...we'll see how that goes over.

After five nights with the wrist computers, three days of saliva samples, and several questionnaires, the young gents will come away with a cool pencil box and the rest of the gum inside, a bath puppet, and fifty dollars each.

Sweet dreams, gents.

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If you're in the Eugene-Springfield area and have or know a child between three and six who might like a bath puppet, a cool pencil box with gum, and fifty dollars the researcher who set us up for the study says that they are still recruiting families for this project. You can call OSLC at 485-2711 and let them know you're interested in participating in the sleep study.