Tags
The Boy is a wonderful little treasure. He is…. I am continually repeating this in my head this morning.
Yes, he is a gift. Of course, I would prefer this gift not to want to be given at night while I am sleeping.
The Boy prefers to sleep in our room. I can say I don’t think it is to sleep with me or us, although I used to think that. No, I can sleep with him in his room and will wake up alone in his bed, while he snoozes away in mine. I am at a loss to why he does not like his bed or bedroom. Especially since we have tried to make it as friendly as possible. He says he is afraid of the dark so we got him a nightlight. He says he needs more light, so now every outlet now is illuminated with night lights. What? He says he needs more light and don’t turn off the lamps, OK.
We have tried letting him sleep with our dog. The dog sleeps soundly in his bed, while he sleeps soundly in ours. Maybe a fish tank with soothing water sounds? Nope! Maybe if there is soothing water sounds and some comforting lullabies? Nope.
OK… Maybe we should make sleeping in our room less desirable. How about sleep on the floor? Unfortunately, he figured out that if he sneaks in and sleeps in the foot of the bed he is not likely to be detected until morning. Would sleeping with The Girl help? Maybe slumber parties on weekends? Well, that worked for a few months. Now, he is back in our room again only he comes in around 3 am rather than midnight or 1 am.
Maybe we should try something more behavioral, I mean I am working on getting certified in Applied Behavior Analysis. Let’s try reinforcing the replacement skills. Well, if only I was rich! He was able to do it for big expensive, ultra motivating toys, but even after a reinforcer assessment (actually 2), he would mosey on over to our room after a day or so. OK, maybe I should try a punishment strategy too. The results are better, but losing a token or activity really did not get us past a week or two of the bed to ourselves.
So I am stumped… Our bed is shrinking as he gets bigger, but there is still a part of me that worries that keeping him out of his bed will cause him to become more anxious and maybe will be something he brings up in therapy when he is 30. None of us are getting much sleep. I know there is anxiety, so I tread lightly. I think it could be medical (sleep apnea? night terrors?) so I have an appointment with a doctor. Think I may try a new behavioral system today and cross my fingers.
Any ideas out there? Mommy needs sleep. How can I be a domestic goddess when I am stumbling around the house with big bags under my eyes. This morning is a good example… I got a loooong list of to do items, and I maybe fell asleep at about 5 (sucks to need complete silence, darkness, and stillness to sleep). I saw the sun come up.