The Sleep Factor...

It was another one of those nights... the nights that remind you that you no longer have the energy of a teenager. The night when, for whatever reason, the little one(s) wake up at 1,2 or 3 a.m. and are fully awake. If you have a kiddo(s) in your family with ASD (autism spectrum disorder) in your household, you know exactly what I mean - even if it's not a regular occurrence, or if your kiddo has learned to go back to sleep on their own. It comes with the territory that is the spectrum. You know that there is nothing you can do to get your kiddo to go back to sleep. Even though you try to get them to lie with you in bed quietly while you snuggle them - hoping that listening to your rhythmic breathing will someone lull them back to sleep before you, yourself do. Generally... not gonna happen. So you find ways to cope, to do whatever you can to speed up the process to help them get back to sleep. Usually, at least in our case, it's like a really, really bad case of insomnia... you all finally drift back to sleep about half an hour before the inevitable happens... the evil sound that is the alarm clock.

So that of course, leads to an "I'm so tired I can barely get out of my own way" day. We warn the teacher at school that they've been up since "X:00" in the morning. This will ultimately result in them having one of the following types of day: trying to fall asleep;

getting their "second wind" and being overly energetic;

or being over the top - in an aggressive way. If they make through school without any meltdowns, then it's time to prepare for ABA. We also let the B.I.'s (behavior instructors) know before their shift starts that the kiddos have been up since "X:00" in the morning, and keep a watchful eye to make sure things stay on course.

Once the day is about over and we've survived school, ABA and supper, we still can't take the chance on letting the boys go to sleep. We still need to make it through the evening routine, lest we take the chance on having an incomplete day (to the boys), which can ultimately create the possibility of them waking up in the middle of the night again. So, after dinner it's time for the evening walk, daddy's chance for alone time with the boys:

Then it's the wind down from the day, it's own routine - relaxing together - trying to keep the boys from getting their "second" or "third" wind at this point. Then we can really think about the possibility of going to sleep. If we can actually make it through the day, with each routine finished and all of us still awake, there's hope for a "relatively" good night's sleep  - but who knows what will happen if at some point - they just drop:

From a mother's heart - may you have a good night's sleep, and if it is disturbed, remember your not alone.