Wake-ups

My latest and greatest need is time in the morning.  The boys sharing a room has come with it's own challenges (and conveniences too).  The biggest challenge that I haven't overcome is the process of waking up in the morning.  First of all, it seems either one or the other is in a phase where they want/need to sleep in a bit.  At that exact time, the other is getting up at the crack of dawn, waking his sibling in the process.

I hear the first stirs and then immediately MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMYYYYYYYYYYYYY... my blood boils.  I do NOT like to be yelled at first thing in the morning, especially because that "MOMMY" is the precise thing that wakes the I-need-my-sleep brother.

So what to do?

I still don't know.

I'm open to suggestions.

But I need an answer bc it starts my day with a battle, "me vs them."

Here's what I've tried:

Food: I've given the boys dry cereal in hopes that they will munch when they get up.  It turns out that dry cereal, as harmless as it seems, creates massive crumbs and a very messy room.  Plus, it was buying me minimal time to the point where they weren't even bothering with it.

Toys: I've put new toys in their room for them to play with when they wake.  Again, novelty wore off quickly and the MOMMY's were out in full force soon after.

Anger: I've threatened, yelled, have been... let's say...stern and it's yielded no results.

Room Lighting: I've tried a darker room... a lighter room... neither seems to convince the crack-of-dawn sibling to sleep longer.

Removal of Noisy Child: I've tried going in as quickly as I can to removed the loud one.  The brother is already awake and then I really have both underfoot far earlier than I would have liked. = one very grouchy mama.

Time: This one I'm not giving up on, but I tried the "you have to stay in your room until their is an 8 on your clock."  Well... they couldn't care less what number is on their clock, they are going to bang on their door and yell until I get them.

The overwhelming problem is that although I can keep them in their room, they bang on the door and yell: annoying me and waking Elizabeth.  I need a fix.

If I've learned anything with parenting it's that you need consistency.  It's hard HARD to be consistent but that's what I'm going to try for. My plan of action is to set the 8:00 rule.  Make sure their clock is set correctly so June can see the time and not go in their room at all until 8.  I'm thinking that if I stick to this for x amount of days they will come to expect to play quietly until 8.

The problem lies in the MOMMY and banging on the door.  (and let me say, I feel like a bad mom for "leaving" them in their room but man, with as many little ones that are here and with a non-napping June, I feel I deserve the time in the morning to shower, finish cleaning, or ::gasp:: sit at the computer for a few minutes until I'm launched into child-mode) So... consequences? Joshua still uses a binker.  I could set up a consequence that if he bangs on the door, he loses his bink for nap time. I'm grasping at straws.  I really don't know what consequence would work for him that circumstance, but he's the door banger.

I have more thinking to do but for now I'm going to start the 8:00 rule and hold firm for 2 weeks.  NO talking or going into the kids' room until then.  I need this sanity and I think it's do-able.  Elizabeth will probably have a few early mornings bc of the resistance, but I've got to do something.  The one brother deserves to sleep, the other one could benefit from this self-control and independent play and I need this too.  If this doesn't work, I need an extra bedroom in the house and that, my friends, is not happening.

Is morning sanity too much to ask?