Tomorrow it's back to school for E. After a LLLLLLOOONNNNGGGGGG break, I am certain E is looking forward to a change of scenery, mainly not having to see or hear me all day long. I completely agree and could use a little away time. As the saying goes, absence makes the heart grow fonder.
Since break started and without the structured regimen provided by school, E's sleeping has been a bit erratic. He tries to go to bed early, then is up in the middle of the night and sleeps to 8 or 9 in the morning. He is 12, almost a teenager. I don't expect him to have my sleeping habits which is usually 4 to 5 hours a night unless I am sick then it is more. E has his mother's sleeping habits, he needs a good 10 hours and he is good to go. Those 10 however, do not need to be consecutive, unlike his mother's sleep needs.
Needless to say, this break has been a little sleep depriving, even for me.
I am currently fighting off a cold. Not a bad one, but enough that I tried to go to bed at 7:30 last night. The last time I tried to go to bed that early I had pneumonia. I went to bed after taking a couple of Benadryls. It is 8:30 and I began to hear the following: E, what are you doing?, E, where are you going? E, go to your room and other questions and commands of a similar nature. I finally arose to an exasperated mom/wife asking me to see what I could do.
There is a definite hierarchy in the discipline/control function within our home. I have the luxury having my authority respected by E, while my wife unfortunately struggles to exert her parental control. To me, it's all a matter of perspective for E, E knows I will carry out every one of my ultimatums, while my wife is good for maybe, one of ten. She is getting better, previous, it was one of hundred.
This is a fundamental difference in our perspective of E. I believe he is my pre-teen boy who just happens to be non-verbal, impacted by autism and other health impairments. My wife treats him as a son, whose is a medically fragile, has autism and gives him a huge benefit of the doubt. We love him in our own way. I have been told by my wife that I expect too much; I tell her she doesn't demand enough. But I digress from this tangent and back to the story.
I walked over to E where he was jumping and bouncing off the couch, asked him to go to his room and get into bed. E looked at me, seeing my less than enthusiastic demeanor, got up and ran to his room. He climbed into bed, pulled the covers up to his ears and closed his eyes. What I couldn't see, but suspected was there, was an impish grin waiting for me to leave.
I stood in his room for about 5 minutes and waited. My wife looking up at me said, I got this. OOOOKKKKK, back to bed for Typhoid Me.
I look at the clock reading 8:40 and climbed back into bed and listened for a bit. I didn't hear anything. A good sign, but until I would hear E begin to snore I had a feeling that I shouldn't go back to sleep.
Sure enough, I began to hear my wife shushing E and telling him to lay down. It's 9:30. Suddenly, there are footsteps and my wife yelling, GET BACK HERE!
I go out to the loft, grab E's hand and lead him back to bed. He gets in giggling and smiling. I tell him it's time for bed. Instead of leaving, I lay down next to E and shush him with every squeak, sound or movement he makes. In a matter of 15 minutes, I hear the dulcet snores of my son. I arise from his bed and return to my own. Now it's 9:45, E's asleep and I know in a matter of minutes my wife will be asleep, exhausted from two hours of trying to get E to sleep. Now, I am awake, unable to fall asleep, nose congested, head throbbing and cycles of feverishness causing me to uncover and recover myself for the better part of the next three hours. After watching a movie, a couple episodes of Two and a Half Men and part of some comedian's standup performance on Comedy Central, I drifted off to sleep somewhere around 12:30.
Little did I know, until 2:00, when my wife came into our room and asked me if we had any Melatonin nearby. Melatonin is a natural sleep aid and the best friend of a parent with a child impacted by autism. Melatonin takes a little longer to work than say four shots of Bourbon, but it is natural, legal and safe.
After finding a tablet of Melatonin in my emergency supplies, my wife shuffles off to E's room, resolving to try to get him back to sleep by herself so that I can get some rest. I drift back to sleep knowing that soon, the Melatonin will take effect and he will be asleep for at least the next 5 hours.
I wake at 8:30 feeling much better than the day before, wondering what a full 11 hours of sleep would have done for me, but resigned in the fact that I still got more sleep than my wife. E is still sleeping unaware that it will be a long day ahead for his parents.
Thanks to Melatonin for being a safe natural sleep aid.
Thanks for reading; more to come.
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