Falling on deaf ears?

Thad has a clock in his room and strict instructions not to come downstairs before 7AM. For the most part, he is obedient to this rule. Thursday morning, however, he chose poorly.

I jumped as a pair of tiny freezing hands were placed on my arm. Groggy, I glanced at the clock. 6:24. I open my eyes just wide enough to see two small boys peering back at me.
"Up Mommy. Up!" says my smallest of offspring (he is precious, but a little less so at 6:24 in the morning.)
"Can you get us some juice and chocolate milk?"
"It is NOT 7 yet."
"Appa juice Mommy"
"Not til 7"
"Please"
"Pease!"
"Mommy cannot be nice before 7. Please go away." I immediately felt guilty for my word choice, but what I heard next broke my heart.
"Mommy isn't ready to get up Hudson. We gotta go away." Sounds much harsher out of the mouth of a four year old.

There is no magic in 7AM, but I have convinced myself that it is a reasonable time to rise and anything earlier than that is simply unacceptable. Surprisingly, they chose obedience and indeed went away. What happened next blew my mind.

I heard some shuffling around in the kitchen and decided I should try to listen to them. "Gonna have to get a juice box Hudson." Thad was searching for some source of liquid refreshment. After he found it I hear "Hudson, gotta find the blue thing. Without it you can't have a juice box. You'll make a mess." Thad is diligently searching for Hudson's juice box holder but coming up empty. "Sorry buddy. Can't give you a box without the blue thing. You'll just have to wait for Mommy to get up." Long pause "Wait let me check the sink." I hear more shuffling. "Got it! Here Hudson." After a few quiet moments, presumably spent drinking from the juice boxes I hear, "You have to be really careful with this key Hudson. It belongs to Mrs. Mary and if you lose it, we won't be able to get into her house. Be careful, okay?"

At this point, I am so stunned, that I am fully awake. Jason is stirring, so I know he's awake too. "Did you hear any of that?" I asked him. "It just proves that he does listen to you," he responds. There's my proof. Though they often argue with me, choose disobedience, and quarrel with one another, my early morning eavesdropping session showed they have been listening. Maybe they are saving it for a rainy day or early morning, but it's in there!

Later, after putting the bar stool back in it's place (the source of the shuffling sounds) and hanging Mrs. Mary's key back on the hook (that thankfully wasn't lost), I told Thad I was proud of his big brother skills. Frustrated that they were showcased before 7AM, but super proud!