And now we have the clap(per). AKA yes, we really are THAT lazy! And creative ways to make the clapper work.

A few years back, my husband used to joke about the clapper when we’d get into bed. In case you’re not old enough to remember the commercials, there was that lady lying in bed who suddenly realized the lights were still on. Instead of having to actually get out of her nice warm bed, she could just clap her hands and her lights went off. Almost makes you want one? Well probably not if you’ve actually SEEN that commercial as the lady was probably about 102 and her arms went flailing about as she flapped and seriously – it looked like about the dorkiest thing ever invented. My husband would lie in bed and do that chicken wing arm flap and then get up to actually turn off the lights.

Still… when I saw the clapper in our yankee swap at work a few years ago, I couldn’t help but grab it for him! He laughed when he opened it and plugged it right in – but it never worked right! And I forgot about it.

I think he did too. Until he found it again in the move. And plugged it into our bedroom lamp. And randomly – it sort of works this time. Sort of is key here. Not just because sometimes it works if you clap, but because it works for a lot of other sounds too. The most notable is the baby’s cry. We’ll sometimes bring her in the morning when she’s woken up and we really don’t want to drag our butts out of bed yet. Sure, we have to be completely awake now as she’s climbing on us, but at least we can still be in a prone position at 7 on Sunday. Well, as she gets bored or mad that we won’t let her fling herself off the bad or whatever, her crying will cause the light to go on or off (well, mostly on. We’re mostly trying to keep it dark to convince her to cuddle down with us. For reference – this never works). So she cries and the light suddenly goes on and she stops for a second and looks at it like – well, how the heck… did I do that?

Then Daddy turns it off again – on occasion by actually clapping, but much more likely by knocking on the headboard or, let’s by honest, by slapping his butt hard enough to make a clapping sound. She’s recently been getting a cold, so it will also turn on the lights when she coughs – which makes me think, how much fun will this stupid thing be when I have a cold and the lights keep going on all night?

As a side note - we've noticed it will also go off to the dog barking and my husband's cell phone ringing (how handy - the phone rings and the lights come on so I can find it... Not.)

So for those of you not filling your house with infomercial rejects, what surprises your kids when it works / makes something move or turn on or off? What are their funniest reactions?