Nectar of the Gods

By Sandy on September 27, 2016

Are you sleep deprived? A snooze button abuser? Tired of being exhausted? It comes with the territory. Sleep deprivation is quite common for those raising a child with special needs. It can go on for years with no real end in sight.

At one point, I was a full time Kindergarten teacher, raising 5 kids, zonked out on the couch an hour or so before dinner, every afternoon. I had no energy. I was physically drained. All I could think about was getting through the day to get to my nap, then getting through the evening to get to bed. This, my friends was back in the day when Josiah was actually a decent sleeper, though I find it hard to believe it was ever really true of him. It feels like he’s been nocturnal his entire life.

Searching for a Solution

By Sandy on September 25, 2016

Life with Josiah revolves around 3 things: sleep (or the lack thereof) the bathroom and food. Throw in some head banging, a little hair pulling, a bit of bouncing and you get the full picture.

We’ve been dealing with insomnia for so long, I can’t believe it continues to be an issue. Surely, by now we should have figured out something to keep this boy in bed at night, resting peacefully.

The do-it-yourself staple gunned, netted bed worked initially, but like everything else with Josiah, only for a while. He’s a clever one. Given enough time, Josiah figures out how to outsmart us at every turn. He ripped a hole in one side of the netting which gradually grew larger over time. He mastered pushing the bed away from the wall and now climbs out with ease. Our homemade enclosed bed no longer encloses our boy.

If You Can’t Beat Him

By Sandy on September 11, 2016

These photos were taken this week.

Notice how peacefully Josiah is sleeping in all of them. Notice these are all taken during the day when he is supposed to be wide awake?

Last night Josiah was up, loud and bouncy 4 times. I’m not really sure he went back to sleep at any point during the night. For all we know, he was wide awake in his room the entire time, only vying for our attention when absolutely necessary.

Unless we find someone who wants to work the night shift, I will unfortunately have to become nocturnal like the boy.

The sun is up and it’s a gorgeous day. Good night everybody.

Nothing Cute About This Morning

By Sandy on September 4, 2016

You know how it’s never a great idea to ignore a quiet toddler in another room? I’m here to tell you it’s not a great idea to sleep through the night, neglecting to check on a quiet Josiah either.

You know this cute little poop emoji? I can only guess the mom of an autistic child came up with that one, just to make it easier when texting other moms of autistic kids. Much quicker to dash off a single emoji when running late than a long, elaborate, TMI text which would only conjure up unpleasant images most every mom of an autistic child spends the majority of her life trying to pretend is not part of her daily existence. Best to avoid that scenario altogether.

Back to this morning.

Caroline’s Carts

By Sandy on September 2, 2016

Josiah recently had the opportunity to ride through our local grocery store in a Caroline’s Cart. It totally changed our shopping experience in a remarkable way.

Prior to this, Josiah didn’t frequent the grocery store much. Not since the days we could squish his extra long body into the toddler section of the grocery cart. Not since the days we could hoist him up over the side to sit in the main section of the grocery cart. Not since the days he started throwing the groceries out of the cart because they were taking up ‘his’ space.