Sleepy Time

Our family is full of abnormal sleepers. As a child, I remember my dad being up all hours of the night, or he would be up at 4 in the morning doing paperwork. My mom always had insomnia and still does to this day.

I used to sleep pretty well until the pressures of adulthood started and my anxiety began to skyrocket. Then I found I could not sleep because my racing thoughts were impeding my sleep. Before my husband was diagnosed with depression, he too would be up in the middle of the night watching T.V., or would decided at 3 in the morning to go fishing. After he started anti depressants this seemed to resolve itself and he now sleeps.

So, it is not a far family stretch at all to say that my kids don't sleep well. Carson has never been a great sleeper since day one. There were always those mom's who would brag that their 6 month old was sleeping through the night. We tried every type of bed time routine and sleep schedule with no success. At 4 years old he finally slept through the night, hallelujah !!! But then his sister was an infant and up every two hours like clock work.

Settling down at night is very rough for Carson and was increasingly so the last year. He would toss and turn in bed, move to the floor, then back to bed. He would lay down at 8 at night but was usually not asleep until after 10. At his last doctors appointment, I voiced my concern of his irritability. She asked about other possible side effects of his ADHD medication, his daily schedule and sleep patterns. After discussing sleep, the doctor suggested trying the medication Clonodine at night to help with the night time restlessness. Wow! has that done wonders! It is not two hours of tossing and turning in bed, trying 20 million positions trying to get comfortable, all to fall asleep and wake up multiple times a night.

Carson is sleeping better through the night now and I can tell in his disposition that he is getting better quality sleep.

I am be no means anti medication, nor am I 100% medicate everybody for everything, but I tried my whole therapist arsenal of sleep techniques, and it was not working. How do you teach a child to sleep when it is part of his neurology? All I know at this point is that sleep is making him feel and function better.

Special, Special Needs

I think my special needs kids are becoming more "special" as they age!

Carson is completely perseverating on Beyblades to an extreme. One more TV episode, or conversation about Beyblades and I might start spinning off my rocker like the Beyblades. Carson takes at least one, if not more Beyblades with him everywhere and usually one of the battle arenas accompany us in the car. I am happy that he wants to "earn" Beyblades since I don't just buy them, but honestly, it is just enough, I rather do dishes then have him do them for a week to earn one more hunk of spinning metal!

Getting this ADD kid to read this summer has also been a challenge, that is if he has to read anything other then Diary of a Wimpy Kid. I think Carson enjoys this series because the main character has a little Aspie in him just like Carson. I have also heard repeatedly from Nana that he cannot remember long sequences of numbers to add, or where he was in certain reading or math problems. Yes Nana, this is common, and this is what I battle with all through the school year, so cut him (and me) a little slack on his summer workbooks.

Little Adeline has not been formally diagnosed with ADHD, but there is no question in anybodys mind that she is an ADHD'r. She asks questions and does not even give me time to respond before she moves on, her body is in constant motion from the moment she wakes up, till the time she actually falls asleep.

She wants someone to read to her, and wants to read her own book too, "because I can do more then one thing at a time." One minute she is tap dancing, and 2 seconds later she is starting a craft project. I always know where Adeline has been in the house based on her little "tornado" areas with stuff everywhere and half completed projects or games. Ms. Adeline is constant for sure, and so are her emotional moods and meltdowns too.

Good thing I know which kindergarten teacher she will have in August. We will be constant companions for 9 months!

God Love Concerta

I have been on Concerta to treat my ADHD symptoms for over 6 months now. I had an increase in milligrams once, and since then, I have been very happy with my results.

Except that this month we started our new deductible year and our deductible is $3500. Yep, everything is out of pocket until we have reached that mark, which meant that my Concerta prescription was going to cost me $151.00. Ouch!!!!! (My sons metadate, for ADHD, was $130.00).

I called the doctor and they gave me a new prescription for Adderral. I am not a fan of Adderral, it seems to bring out aggression and moodiness in children, and agitation in adults. But $15.00 seemd better then $151.00.

I took the Adderral for 3 days and went back to the Concerta. I did end up getting a discount coupon, so it was $116.00, but it is worth every penny I spent!!

Animals

Adeline's preschool was lucky enough to have a visit from the animal sanctuary called Roos N More. They brought a number of animals to the preschool and the kids had a blast.

Here is Carson with a toucan

Adeline and the toucan

I love this picture, it really shows the difference in my kids personalities. Adeline is loving the snake, while Carson could not be far enough away from it! This totally sums them up, a "go getter, fears little" and "calculating, cautious and conservative"

Not sure what that animal is called but it is a member of the raccoon family

There is the brave girl with the smaller snake!

One of those Day's

Yesterday was one of those days that all I heard was "mom." It was constant, ...mom, mom, mom, mom, until I was ready to change my name!

The day seemed to be challenging for my kids and I, which maybe was a good thing that it was all in one day. I had zero patience, Adeline was bouncing all over in her words and her actions and Carson was back to making negative comments, and becoming tearful over working on his workbook and practicing the violin. We had a stellar week last week with both kiddos, so I will let yesterday's moods slip by, and try and re group again.

Yep, I have

Yep, I have turned into "that kind of mother," whatever "that" is supposed to mean. I knew I would love my kids and do anything for them, but launching the beyblades in the bathroom while my son is taking a shower, well, I never knew that was going to be in my "mom" job description.

Actually, I really did not mind, it was quite amusing and entertaining, but it was so funny to hear Carson ask me to launch them so he could watch them in the shower.

I love his little face showing through the duck shower curtain!