It's 12:31 a.m. on a Monday night, and I'm blogging. I'd much rather be in bed asleep, but that's not happening anytime soon. Maybe not even tonight.
As I sit here typing, Bear is running up and down the hall. Right now he's doing everything in his power to make me mad or wake up Stitch or The ODD Dad. I've confiscated the markers he was about to use to write on the wall and the Spiderman toy he kept launching at me (it launches disks). He's dumped the dog's food into her water, threatened to throw a toy in the fish tank (stopped when I said we'd get rid of the fish), and keeps hitting my computer. I've just gone and emptied out the half-full coffee cup that was sitting beside me (my third cup tonight) just in case he gets the bright idea to dump that on my computer.
<Note: In the time it took me to walk 10 feet away and dump out my coffee, Bear charged out of his room to ransack my work space. He pounded away on my computer keyboard, inadvertently closing me out of my blog. I'm glad I remembered to save it before I walked away.>
When I paid no attention to his antics, including his attack on my computer, he started throwing things at me, including Stitch's little board books. Those things can fly! And they hurt, too!
What's going on, you ask? I have no clue. I wish to hell I did. Last night was the same deal, except Stitch was up for a good part of the night as well. After all, it's a little difficult to sleep when your big brother is pounding on your bedroom door and screaming at the top of his lungs. I finally got Bear to sleep at about 2:30 a.m., but I think it was about 3 a.m. or so before I managed to get Stitch settled.
Bear used to have major issues sleeping, but he hasn't had any problems in months. Then, for some reason, things changed last week. Just like old times, Bear woke up at about 11 p.m. last Wednesday night and didn't go back to bed until about 4 a.m. Then he did the same thing on Friday night. Then last night he was up almost all night, and the same thing tonight. The 11 p.m. til 4 a.m. used to be a pretty regular occurrence, but this all-night thing is new. I can't say I'm a big fan.
Bear's sleep problems this past week, combined with a school suspension and a snow day, have meant that I haven't managed to get any client work done. None. Zero. Zip. And is that a problem? Yes, it is. A big problem? Yes, it is. A huge problem? Yes, it is. So tonight I'm drinking cup after cup of coffee in an attempt to stay coherent enough to get some work done. If I'm going to be up, I may as well be productive.
Guess I'd better go make some more coffee. It's going to be a long night.
Oh Laura! I hope you were able to get some sleep! If not last night, at least I hope you get some tonight. Any advice I'd give would sound trite and you've probably already tried. I'll keep you all in my prayers.
ReplyDeleteOh honey I am so sorry. I can't even imagine how difficult those nights can be. I hope that both of you get some sleep soon.
ReplyDeleteCoffee hugs and energized wishes.
Hi Laura! Thank you for the lovely comment you left on my blog. I'm so sorry you missed your wedding reception... that's awful!! My heart goes out to you!
ReplyDeleteSo I stopped by your blog and read your profile description and thought... oh my gosh... this woman can relate!! We may possibly be facing a diagnosis of ODD with our son as well. We have to bring in a professional to work with him, but everyone's been sick over the holidays and we just haven't gotten to it. In the meantime, I've been talking to a therapist who is trying to help us develop strategies until we can get our son whatever services he might need.
I was reading your posts about the SpiderMan flying discs and having a flashback to a couple of nights ago when I got a Tonka truck thrown at me (which hit me painfully in the shoulder), and then caught my son sliding down the banister on his belly. He also pushed his little sister down the steps.
We reversed the lock on his door so we could make him stay in his room for a time-out. The first time he got locked in, we went to check on him after five minutes, and when we got upstairs he had taken the door OFF ITS HINGES. He was four at the time. What four-year-old takes his door off its hinges??
So anyway, my coping mechanism has been humor. I write about all the hilarious things that happen in our house, because I have a lot of crazy stories to tell.
When I'm out in public, I mostly get the "pity look." People feel sorry for me and say things like, "You deserve a medal," or "Looks like Mommy needs a margarita." *sigh* So, I write a humor blog. It's wonderfully therapeutic.
Anyway, sorry for the ridiculously long comment--I was actually going to send you an email with all of this in it but I couldn't find a way to contact you. But I liked your Facebook page, so I'll keep up with your blog through FB.
Sending you love and hugs!
-Jenn
Hi Jenn -- Ah...you feel my pain. And I feel yours! I normally try to inject some humour -- or at least sarcasm -- into my blogs because that's how I cope. But as you know, some days there's just no energy for humour left. ;-)
DeleteI have to admit that taking the door of its hinges is extremely impressive. Bear hasn't yet accomplished anything quite so dramatic, although he did manage to slam his bedroom door so often and so hard that he cracked the door frame. Like your guy, he was about four.
Thanks for pointing out that I don't have my contact info on my blog. Not sure how I missed that, but I did.
Good luck with your son. If you ever need a shoulder, I'm here.
Love and hugs back!
Laura