Tonight is my son’s birthday sleepover! Eight 11-year old boys are FINALLY asleep in sleeping bags in the basement, after hours of running around and giggling and playing games and being… Well, after hours of being 11-year old boys at a sleepover!

SO: yes, 2:14am is the perfect time for the Carbon Monoxide Detector that they knocked out of the wall to start chirping loudly and let me know a) the Carbon Monoxide levels are fine, but b) it’s unplugged from the wall and c) the battery backup is now failing and I should 1) replace the battery and 2) plug it back into the wall.

Okay. Good to know that’s still working. And is it just some “Dad Instinct” that kicks in once you become a dad that means you’re the only one in a house full of people to hear that particular piercing “CHIRP!!”? Because it seems like any time one of the smoke or carbon monoxide detectors has a battery running low it’s me who is wandering the house at 2:14am trying to figure out which one is making the noise! It really is amazing how you can wake from a deep sleep going “Chirp. I heard a chirp? I was sleeping, but I think I heard a chirp. Quick, before it happens again and I have to actually lift my head from the pillow – run through the possible chirp sounds that could be happening: smoke detector, carbon monoxide detector, someone’s phone needs recharging, one of the many electronic toys the kids have was left on and is making some kind of weird noi- wait, nope, there it is again. Okay, lift head from pillow. Walk to hallway. Wait for sound again and begin narrowing down the location of the sound in the house… Yep, basement. Wade through obstacle course of sleeping 11-year olds…find the culprit. How can they sleep through it going off while they’re laying right next to it?!

And the most amazing thing is that it ALWAYS happens in the middle of the night! I do not think I have EVER had one of those things go off at a nice convenient 4:45pm. *sigh*. Battery backup replaced, detector re-plugged into wall… All is well once more.

So, I wonder if I’ll be able to get back to sleep… I also wonder if there’s any more of that birthday cake left in the kitchen….

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