Well, we had another bad night, but for different reasons. First off, we went to grandma's for dinner which means we get to choose between following the regular bedtime routine, and being up way, way late (reducing the amount of sleep) or skipping all those pesky relaxation parts, but having a decent shot at a good night's sleep. Second off, he was having breathing issues which woudln't allow him to stay asleep.
I chose bed time option B in the hopes that short term struggle will provide the best long term gain. Sort of like quitting smoking cold turkey rather than tapering down.
Since we were at my mothers-in-law's house, he didn't get to play on the internet, hang from teh trapeze (did I mention we have a trapeze in the living room?) jump on his trampoline or play his DVDs. He also didn't get to eat what he wanted, but rather what little he could/would eat. He was so over tired and over stimulated that he couldn't calm down at all. He needed new shirt, that one didn't feel right, he needed a different pillow (or rather, just lay on top of mom), he had to spin or clap during all the Lion King songs, he had to watch Lion King in the mirror, rather than on the TV itself, he wanted to watch the light pattern on the wall/ceiling.
I, of course, can't give in to many of these-the clothes part is fine, as is laying on top of me (except for the pesky problem of breathing with a 60 lb weight on my chest). else he gets farther out of control. It's a fine line between using stems to self-regulate and using stems to self-stimulate. The staring into the mirror, spinning in his swing and clapping/jumping (if one can jump while sitting down) will just amp him up further.
We manage to make it to the scene Monster always stops at (Pumba yelling "She's going to eat me") and head over to the other room. Here he can't get comfortable, or calm down. Tossing, turning, snuggle up to Mom, push mom away, run toes down mom's leg (Note to self: Trim Monster's toenails) Eventually, Whale song begins. Sigh.
Whale song is a series of vocalizations that he does for a variety for reasons, auditory sensory input, keeping himself awake, torturing his mother. High pitched, loud and grating to *my* senses. He knows this and will routinely do this when he thinks I'm being mean and not letting him get his way. Sometimes, like last night, he does it because he just needs more sensory input than the quiet, dark room can provide. Usually, I can sing to him in place of his whale song, but he only wanted me to sing songs he could sing with me, another way for him to keep himself awake.
We wrestled, while I tried not to lose my mind at his sounds. Hubbie came down once when an inadvertant elbow poked hit me somewhere sensitive. I tried to keep him from scraping his toe nails down my bare legs. It was a rough 30-40 minutes, but we both survived relatively uninjured and he fell asleep. Unfortunately, the Boy of Steel didn't have a full quiet night of restorative sleep. Instead, he started barking.
For those who don't know, barking is that sound a child makes when he/she coughs when she/he has croup. So far, Monster doesn't seem to have croup, but something is draining into his throat (sorry, TMI) interupting his breathing and causing him to bark from time to time. His barking would wake him from the sound sleep into that quasi-sleep state, where he wants to snuggle Mommy or Daddy. Eventually we gave him decongestant and he was able to fall into a somewhat deep sleep.
Now the reason we don't give him decongestant sooner is the only one he will take has the dreaded dyes in them. If we force another type on him, he wakes completely up, having gotten just enough sleep to prevent him from falling asleep again for several, long hours. If we can avoid them, we will. Dyes can cause him to develop a rash, tummy problems and lack of focus. Then again, so can sleep deprivation. Our own rock/hard place decision.
As usual, he woke up at the crack of the freaking dawn (I hate long summer days). He was very cute in his own snuggly/cranky way. Eventually, he got dressed and ready for school. The only two bad times were when I wouldn't let him bring all his DVDs to school (He has 3 Whole Foods bags of about 10-15 DVDs each) and when he wanted to ride in Daddy's truck, not Mommy's car. I think he was happy to be going to school, even if it was to just get away from me!
Hopefully everything will be more on track tonight. I already know Tuesday and Wednesday nights are going to be tough-I have a meeting at school and Hubbie is going to a nutrition class. Like a recovering addict, we take one day at a time.
Woo-freaking-hoo!
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