O.K. So it turns out I may have been premature in my purchase of a tent enclosure for Josiah’s bed. It hasn’t arrived yet. When it does, I may not even take it out of the box. I may just contact the company for a shipping label and return it. Here’s why.

Josiah slept really well last night. No, he slept GREAT last night. The past few nights we have been following a consistent routine. He gets into bed. I pray and sing to him. I tuck him in. I sit in the bean bag chair and wait for him to drift off.

The first night took 4 hours. The next night it was just a couple of hours The night after that was even better, though I don’t have a time reference. Rick put him to bed that night. Last night, Josiah sought me out, grabbed my hand and walked me towards his room.

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I feel like we are on a roll. I’ve been praying for wisdom lately. Specifically, wisdom for helping Josiah. I’ve known for a long time he needs much more than we have been giving him. I’m excited he will be getting a new bouncy chair very soon. I think it will make a huge difference with him sitting, well, bouncing really, at the kitchen table. Might make meal times much more challenging now that I think about it. But we’ll save that for another time.

With the chair dilemma resolved for the time being, I started thinking of other areas that need tweaking. Bedtime is definitely one of those times. You may recall it took 4 hours the other night for Josiah to fall asleep, in his own bed.

Part of the problem was his ridiculously high level of energy. He bounced and bounced and bounced so long and so hard I really thought the bed was going to break.

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For more years than I care to remember, Josiah has been on quite a few heavy duty medications. These medications were ones Rick and I actively sought out for him. We had gotten to a point where we needed something, anything to help impact his life for the better. We had tried most everything else.

I remember a conversation with a Pediatric Neurologist a few months ago. I was told a new medication he was prescribing would help calm Josiah at the end of the day and allow him to sleep through the night. If there were no improvements, he would prescribe an additional medication.  After a few days with no improvement and serious sleep deprivation, I called, asking for the additional medication. It was a Friday morning.

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Holidays and birthdays can be challenging. They bring about changes. Changes in routine, changes in daily schedules, changes in events and activities and places. Changes are not easy for Josiah. He likes keeping things just as they typically are. He likes structure. He likes routine.

Unfortunately, he was born into a family that is anything but structured. And Routine? Are you kiding me? Most days we fly by the seat of our pants in this family. I like creating a plan. I love organizing. I love scheduling the entire day. I just am not so good at keeping it, because I also love change. I love spontaneity. I like to switch things up and have spur of the moment fun.

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Josiah requires assistance to do most everything. He needs help with eating. He needs help with bathing. He needs help with dressing. He needs help in the bathroom. Basically, he needs alot of help. We use a prompting sequence to guide him. We use verbal prompts and physical prompts to encourge him to do as much of a task as possible.

Sometimes it is so much easier to do something for him than to WAIT for Josiah to do it. The prompting sequence can take a while. Josiah can take even longer. We don’t always have time in our schedule to wait. So sometimes, we just do things for him. We know it doesn’t help him though. So, as often as possible, we allow Josiah to do as much of a task as he is capable of.

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