Josiah has suddenly been sleeping quite a bit. This child who rarely sleeps, suddenly seems to do nothing but sleep. He sleeps in school. He sleeps in the van. He sleeps as soon as he gets home from school. He sleeps at the table. He sleeps on the floor.  He even sleeps in Church.

What is up with all this sleeping? Should we be concerned?  Does this mean something is amiss?  Or does this simply mean Josiah is going through a growth spurt and just needs the rest. For the past few nights, despite all his day time napping, we have been making a concerted effort to ensure Josiah follows his bedtime routine.

We guide Josiah through all the steps on his visual picture schedule so he is in bed at a decent hour. We tuck him in, say prayers, give him a hug and kiss and then leave his room. Of course, we know Josiah’s habit is to climb right out of bed the second we leave, so we’ve changed it up a bit. We put a chair right outside Josiah’s door.  One of us sits there, guarding the exit.

As soon as Josiah attempts to leave his room, we motion for him to go back to his bed.  We try not to talk to him at all or give him any unnecessary attention that might unintentionally encourage getting out of bed behavior.  Occasionally we have to gently guide him back to his bed.

Within a short while, maybe 10-15 minutes, he falls asleep. This is unheard of for Josiah. There has been no bouncing.  No vocalizations.  No more than 1 or 2 attempts to get out of his bed even.

Today, Josiah’s class had ‘Muffins for Moms’. Yesterday, they made the muffins.  Today, they served them to us. Yesterday, making muffins wore Josiah out.  He fell fast asleep by 9:40 am. Today, during the breakfast, Josiah fell asleep again.  One of the other mothers mentioned I should be concerned about all the sleeping Josiah is doing lately.

Maybe she’s right.  Maybe since Josiah is typically not a very good sleeper AT ALL, this new change in sleep habits is indicative of something serious. Isn’t it funny, now that Josiah is getting a more normal amount of sleep at night, we question it.  If he had been a typical sleeper from the get-go, this would be nothing.

But, the fact that he’s falling asleep so easily in many other environments is the main reason for being concerned. This mother today said I should probably take Josiah to the Dr. to see what is going on.  I’m in no hurry to find out.  I’m just going to take full advantage of this situation.  If Josiah wants to sleep, I say let the boy sleep.

We have waited 10 long years for this.  We have spent far too many days and weeks and months with far too little rest.  If you happen to stop by our house and hear loud snoring, don’t be alarmed.

It’ll most likely be Rick and I, catching up on our sleep.