So last night was a very rough night, which led to a rough morning. Adair gave us about 4 hours of solid sleep before he began waking up and screaming nonstop. And we went to bed at our normal time, around 10. The kids were down around 8:30. I knew it would be rough when it took us almost an hour to get him to stop screaming.
We do the same bedtime routine nightly: story, prayer, song, water, hug, kiss. We make sure the nightlight is on (he will freak out, screaming "Stars!" until it goes on). It was working for us until about a week and a half ago. He now will demand hugs and/or kisses for close to 10 minutes if we let him. I literally have to tell James when to step away and start making Adair go to bed. It kills us and wears us out, especially since Adair will only allow James to put him down, comfort him, anything at night. So I'm no help at all for the bedtime routine, unless James isn't home. Then I can get him down fairly easily.
Like I said, 4 hours of good sleep. We eventually put Mady in bed with us, James put earplugs in, and we let Adair scream himself out. We can't figure out why he screams. Anytime he wakes up, morning, night, naps, whenever, he will scream until we physically take him out of bed. James is running on fumes and pure exhaustion today.
This morning, there were tantrums nonstop from the time he woke up. Part of them came from him wanting the TV on (his mom would allow him to watch TV every morning for the 4 months she had him while she got ready for work), and the other part, well, we don't know what caused them. He woke up at 6:20, and by 7 a.m. was already in time-out.
We child-proofed our house the other night. I got tired of having to lock our bedroom door once he was up just to get dressed (plus, the kids seem to love destroying our bedroom), so we now have doorknob covers on every door in the house. If a door is closed and he is up for the day, and one of us happens to be behind that closed door, we end up with an epic meltdown, complete with him practically beating down the door.
We have the first evaluation March 26, but I am hoping that we can figure something out that doesn't make this bedtime routine last for an hour or more, and that we can get a few more nights of sleep before then. Full nights. I think I can count the full nights of sleep on one hand in the almost month we have had him back.
Friday, March 16, 2012
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Maiden Voyage if you will
As many of my friends know, James and I are getting married April 28. I thought I would start a blog to chronicle everything we've gone through, are going through, and will encounter, especially since we are both coming into the marriage with children who are 18 months apart.
Needless to say, life is interesting in our house. Some days are great and easy, and others are trying and wear us out, and all we want is a sanity break by mid-afternoon. I had the, shall we say, privileged to stay home for 3 days with both kids. If you ever want an adventure, stay home with a 2-year-old and a 3 1/2-year-old. I was never happier to see James than at the end of that first day.
It wasn't all bad. Our kids usually get along really well (up until 2 hours before dinner is cooked). What's trying is that there is some speech delays with Adair, which I'm sure makes him frustrated, especially since we force him to tell us what he wants. We are also dealing with some intense tantrums, so we are taking things one day at a time.
This blog not only chronicles what I mentioned before, but it's our outlet for when we need that Sanity Break. We believe Adair might have some form of autism (too many symptoms to really list here that he is exhibiting), and we have multiple evaluations with different groups set up for the next month or 2. We aren't certain that he has it, but it's worth getting him evaluated to rule it out and see what's going on. It makes daily things a battle sometimes: trips to the store without Mady make him very withdrawn and nervous, for example. Or if we do dinner earlier than what he wants it to be, he has a meltdown and won't eat until it's the proper time.
Mady tries to help him. We can tell she understands that there is something going on with him, she just doesn't know what. She will try to lead him away when he's angry or upset, and ends up getting hit/kicked/pushed. It's obvious she doesn't understand what's going on, and it hurts me to see both kids hurting and confused and not being able to help either. I kiss the boo-boos and wipe the tears, but I wish there was more that I could do for both of them. I told my mom that I consider it a victory if Mady is only pushed into a wall once during the tantrums, which is slightly sadistic (in my views) to say.
I pray the evaluations help shed some light on what is going on with my sweet stepson. It hurts me to see how he reacts and acts out and know that I don't know how to help him right now.
Needless to say, life is interesting in our house. Some days are great and easy, and others are trying and wear us out, and all we want is a sanity break by mid-afternoon. I had the, shall we say, privileged to stay home for 3 days with both kids. If you ever want an adventure, stay home with a 2-year-old and a 3 1/2-year-old. I was never happier to see James than at the end of that first day.
It wasn't all bad. Our kids usually get along really well (up until 2 hours before dinner is cooked). What's trying is that there is some speech delays with Adair, which I'm sure makes him frustrated, especially since we force him to tell us what he wants. We are also dealing with some intense tantrums, so we are taking things one day at a time.
This blog not only chronicles what I mentioned before, but it's our outlet for when we need that Sanity Break. We believe Adair might have some form of autism (too many symptoms to really list here that he is exhibiting), and we have multiple evaluations with different groups set up for the next month or 2. We aren't certain that he has it, but it's worth getting him evaluated to rule it out and see what's going on. It makes daily things a battle sometimes: trips to the store without Mady make him very withdrawn and nervous, for example. Or if we do dinner earlier than what he wants it to be, he has a meltdown and won't eat until it's the proper time.
Mady tries to help him. We can tell she understands that there is something going on with him, she just doesn't know what. She will try to lead him away when he's angry or upset, and ends up getting hit/kicked/pushed. It's obvious she doesn't understand what's going on, and it hurts me to see both kids hurting and confused and not being able to help either. I kiss the boo-boos and wipe the tears, but I wish there was more that I could do for both of them. I told my mom that I consider it a victory if Mady is only pushed into a wall once during the tantrums, which is slightly sadistic (in my views) to say.
I pray the evaluations help shed some light on what is going on with my sweet stepson. It hurts me to see how he reacts and acts out and know that I don't know how to help him right now.
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