I guess the adventure with Josiah and the bathtub yesterday was just a precursor to the fun that was to come.  How was I to know? How was he to know? How was anyone to know, really?  I did say often times challenges come and most often they come on suddenly. I just figured we had already had enough fun for one day. I was wrong.

Last night was horrendous. For some unknown reason Josiah began to scream out at bed time. And I mean SCREAM. These weren’t, I want a drink, I’m trying to avoid going to bed screams. These were full throttle, I’m terrified of something screams.

Nothing seemed to help. We tried holding him. We tried scratching his back. We tried singing to him. We tried praying over him. Rick gave him a great big squeezy hug. Josiah continued to scream.

And, as if the screaming wasn’t heart wrenching enough to endure, he began to attack. He clawed at his skin. He grabbed at his hair. Fortunately, with his new super short haircut, there wasn’t anything for him to grab. He lunged at my hair. And all the while, the blood curdling screams continued.

We started to think he was in pain. Why else the terrified screaming? We checked his body over as best we could. Nothing.  Prior to this, he had been laying in his bed. He had been kicking the wall, HARD. Rick went into Josiah’s room to move his bed away from the wall so he couldn’t kick it anymore.

He had only pulled it a few inches away, so initially we thought maybe Josiah had gotten his foot stuck and was hurt. Maybe it had gotten stuck between the wall and bed and he had twisted it to pull it out. Maybe he was in excruciating pain?

At times like this I wish the boy could talk. If he could just point to whatever it was that was upsetting him, it would be helpful. But, he doesn’t.  Josiah just continued to scream and claw and lunge towards me. Rick held him down as we continued to try to calm him.

I suggested Rick take Josiah on a ride in the van. Josiah likes to go for rides. Maybe that would work. It was 11:30 at night. Rick was tired. I was tired.  But, Josiah was still screaming. So, off they went.

Rick called a few minutes later. I could hear Josiah in the background, screaming. Rick thought maybe he needed to take Josiah to the Emergency Room. Maybe he had some type of internal injury we were unaware of and needed medical attention. We were grasping at straws.

About 10 minutes later, Rick and I talked again. Josiah was calmer now. He had settled down. Rick was bringing him home. When they got in the house, Josiah acted as if everything was perfectly fine. He clearly did not want to be in his bedroom. So, when he crawled up into our bed, I didn’t mind. I was just grateful he was calm.

Rick fell asleep quickly. Josiah took a little longer. Every so often he would reach over and attempt to grab my hair. I wrapped a blanket around my head, so no hair would show at all and turned my back on him.  Josiah’s breathing slowed. He fell asleep. I was relieved. So, very relieved. It had been a long afternoon and an even longer evening.

Suddenly, without warning, Josiah began clawing at my hair again. He woke up, screamed a terrified scream and reached out at me. That’s when I had had enough. I jumped up, grabbed my pillow and a blanket and went to the living room. Josiah followed me.  I laid down on the couch and turned on the T.V. Josiah calmly sat beside me. He began to bounce actually. He seemed quite happy. Strange, I thought.

It took a couple of hours, but eventually Josiah fell asleep. He had pushed one of the couch cushions off the couch. He curled up in the corner of the couch and slept, sitting up. Around 4:30 in the morning I went back to bed. I laid down and then felt badly about leaving Josiah out on the couch alone. I got back out of bed, put a pillow beside him (to block him from falling off the edge) and covered him with a blanket. He was peaceful.

This morning I woke just before 10 am. Josiah slept til almost 11. We’ll never know what caused him to behave like he did last night. He doesn’t have the words to tell us and we weren’t able to figure it out on our own. Tonight is a bit of a concern. Not sure I want a repeat of last night. Not sure how to avoid it or what to do if it happens again.

I’m thinking it may be time to find the nearest Motel 6. Apparently, they’ll leave the light on for me.