Josiah's Journey

A few days ago, Chandler asked, why do you always write about Josiah not sleeping?

Maybe lack of sleep is a recurring theme because lack of sleep IS a recurring theme at our house.

I was up with Josiah til 3 am Friday night.

It was my turn. Rick had stayed up with Josiah 2 nights prior to that.

Last night I was so tired I crashed just after 9 pm. With hind sight it was a good thing I did.

I was awakened by Josiah around 1:30.

I spent a while with him on the couch.  Didn't even try the David Tutera trick.  I think I was too tired to even turn it on.

I just laid there, hoping Josiah would calm down enough to sleep.  He didn't.

Around 3:30 I thought it best to put Josiah back in his own room and keep him there.  If he wanted to party all night, that was his choice, but I no longer wanted to be in attendance.

So, I walked Josiah back to his room and helped him climb up into his bed.  When I left the room, I tied my black elastic head band around his door knob handles on the outside of his door. 

This was my make shift lock.

I laid back on the couch to listen.

Josiah quickly crawled out of bed, and began playing with his mini blinds.  He was banging them back and forth against the window.  He was yanking them hard.

I tried to ignore it.  I tried to go back to sleep.  I figured he'd stop after a few minutes. 

He didn't.  I got up, 'unlocked' his door and raised the blinds.  I tied the cords up high, reattached the elastic band to the door knobs and retreated to the couch once again.

By now I couldn't sleep.  I was wide awake.  I did a Google search on my phone.  I typed, Autistic child won't sleep.

There were many, many responses to that entry.  The first one, Please Help.  He won't go to bed, made me smile.  I could have written that one.

Then I read one signed One Tired Momma.  Could have written that too.

I kept reading.  The theme was the same.  Our kids don't sleep.  We parents are exhausted.

No one really had the answer.  Many people suggested Melatonin.  The story is the same.  It may help initially to get the child to sleep, but doesn't keep them asleep.

Others said it works for a little while, then is no longer effective after a few months.

Josiah takes it every night.  

Though I was still not discovering any miracle cures, somehow it helped to know we are not alone.  There are many parents and families out there dealing with the same insomnia issue.

The one piece of helpful advice I read said to ensure the child gets a lot of physical activity during the day.  The key is to exhaust the child so he will sleep at night.

Great plan.  Josiah however, resists many types of activity, except bouncing and that has not proven to make him tired, AT ALL.

At 4:30 I checked on Josiah.  He was STILL awake, but laying in his bed.

Then, I remembered, next weekend our neighborhood pool opens up.  When Josiah spends a lot of time in a pool, he wears out sufficiently enough to sleep well.  I had forgotten all about that.

At 5:05 I checked him again and he was sound asleep.

I'm not sure if I can wait a whole week for that boy to sleep well. 

Tonight, I'm going to gather all these energetic, non-sleeping kids and rally them together in our back yard.

I'll give everyone a shovel and instruct them to dig.  Before sunrise, we could have our very own built in pool.

They could all come and swim in it every day.  Then, they would sleep well at night too.