eSpecially Ben

This is an addendum to last night's post. In my enthusiasm to solve Ben's sleeping problem, I gave him all his medication at 4pm, including the sleep aid. And like I said in my last post, he was sound asleep by 8pm. At 1:30am, he was bright eyed and bushy tailed and remained so until I sent him to school on the bus. We try again today. I still have high hopes...just need to administer the medication according to schedule. A lesson learned every day.

Today was the sleep consultation for Ben. I asked Ryan to go because he had information to add, but really I did not want to seem like a raving lunatic when I described Ben's sleep situation. I had nothing to worry about with this doctor -  he made no assumptions, asked many questions and walked us through options for Ben. The doctor admitted that Ben's sleep pattern was unusual and offered many explanations and possibilities. He spent 45 minutes with us and probably would have spent more if the kids (and me) had not gotten antsy. These are a few of the things I learned: 1. Sleeping pills have not been tested on children. It just has not been done. And they definitely have not been tested with children with special needs. I see a future in this area because so many parents deal with their child's insomnia on a regular basis and do not know what to do. 2. It is possible that when Ben was weaned off a seizure medicine called Clonazepam in May, we inadvertently, to

Sean has been testing my patience recently. The final straw was when he yelled that Daddy was in charge, not Mommy. Unfortunately or fortunately, Daddy was not around to eat this declaration up. As I was getting the boys ready for bed, I pulled Sean aside and explained that his Daddy and I were sad about his behavior lately. I asked him what he thought we could do to change it. His instant response, "You can use a wand." I was pretty sure what he meant, but asked anyway. He said I could use a wand to change things, and as he glanced around the room, he said that he was certain that we had one around here somewhere. Sean's in bed now, and I am looking everywhere for that darn wand.