Posted by SuperADDMom on July 8, 2010
this is why i love my kid.
they can drive me nuts through the day fighting and whining, and making ABSOLUTE mess of the house, having temper tantrums over sensory issues, being cranky from lack of sleep etc.
But today, she had a fairly decent day, though she was whiney and cranky from the heat….then after a lovelery swim in the pond we come home hungry and the girl makes her own supper wth some help… a can of alphabet noodles.
In the middle if eating she asks “can I borrow your DSi for a minute?” I say ya, but give it right back. She did, and I never looked until just a few minutes go to what she wanted to take a picture of… and this is what she borrowed it for!
Posted by SuperADDMom on May 2, 2010
The boy insisted on pulling the heavy 20 kg bag of sand to the box hmself.. he did a great job! heavy sensory therapy work DIY style.
He’s been in the sand box ever since. The sand has always been one of his most favourite things to do. I can currently hear him humming to himself under the cherry tree playing with cars in the sand.
Posted by SuperADDMom on April 28, 2010
We live in a very rural area, and about 12 klm from town of about 5000. there they have a fitness and aqua center, and this week I got the kids signed up for programs there.
We have a great community, that helps low income families like ours pay for such programs so they can attend. Honestly the gas in and of itself twice a week makes the budget tight for the next 8 weeks, but the program is covered, and the kids benefit from it tremendously in many ways.
Socially, physically, and even mentally and therapeutically for their sensory integration issues.
So for their age groups I have them in a gym and swim program, the girl had an hour of swimming ( informal swimming and water games, and some guidance, not lessons, but coaching just the same) and then an hour in the gym for a rules/lead game and some tumble and roll, trampoline gymnastics stuff.
She will be going every Wednesday evening, and then the boy will be in a similar set up on Thursday mornings for the next 8 weeks, but I need to attend with him and coach him in the pool, formal level red cross swimming lesson, with one leader/coach guiding us teaching our kid.
Anyway. her first night was tonight, and got the low down on all the boys who cheated at the games they played in the gym…ever the rules police she is 
Aspie kids are stickler for rules, and don’t adjust well to change. She has the added issue of being ADHD as well, and gets easily side tracked, so because of these things, she was terribly worried about going, that no one would like her, that she can’t swim very good, and she sucks at sports like soccer.
When we got there we discovered that due to pool availability, the swim portion of the 2 hour program is first. Which I think is really rather shitty, cause she’ll have to shower off the pool chemicals from her body to go to gym, and do all that in a timely fashion, AND then she’ll sweat and stink in the gym, and come home and need to shower again!
With a child who has an issues with time management, getting side tracked, and anxiety about changing in front of other girls, this could really put a major crimp in her liking this program at all. She was VERY upset…it’s different from how the program ran last year, so she was all bent out of shape over that at first….and she NEVER showers for less than 15 minutes, and THEN takes 15 minutes to dry and change….so I can’t just drop her off for a 2 hour free time in town, and then pick her up… I need to be there in the middle of the 2 hours, for the switch over, to ensure she stays on track. It is a good lesson for her to work at, and would be helpful, but still, not what we understood, not what we planned, and i can’t just take 2 hours to do errands, or maybe even enjoy a break at the library, or whatever, without needing to be back there an hour into it, and then hang around for 45 minutes left of the program.
But even with that…she had a good first night, and she was happy to be the first person dressed and ready for gym.
I’m glad she enjoyed it and came home with a smile on her face, and excited about it.
I’m really pleased with her instructor/leader. She eased into it well, though she was terrified and almost in tears at the beginning.
I hope that he is a sign of changes happening with a new generation of community leaders/teachers/coaches etc we are about to see more in upcoming years as my children and children with special needs are being accepted.
He’s energetic and young ( about 18/19) and great with the kids, and was receptive to my suggestions to make my girls’s experience better, to help lower her anxiety in social situations, and how to give her warnings for changing events/transitions easier. He didn’t know much about it, but he generally understood Aspergers and ADHD and was positive about her maybe needing a little extra coaching to stay on track.
I watched him interact with the kids in the pool, and with the kids in the gym, and leading the games, and He’s a positive verbal encourager, but not unfairly, and he high fives all the kids and makes them feel positive about their contributions….you can tell he is fresh in the game and loves his job.
I want more of this in my children’s future. He was a pleasure to watch coach the kids.
Tomorrow at 9:45, I’ll be back there with a great female instructor we know from my sons program last year, and last year he was very shy due to his CAPD…but he ASKED to go back this year, and is very excited about tomorrow. She’s in her mid 20′s, and she is just as great.
I rant a lot sometimes, so it is nice when I have the opportunity to share nice things
Posted by SuperADDMom on April 22, 2010
SOURCE LINK: http://www.publicnewsarchive.com/rewards-work-like-drugs-in-adhd/
The brains of children with attention-deficit disorders respond to on-the-spot rewards in the same way as they do to medication, say scientists.
A Nottingham University team measured brain activity as children played a computer game, offering extra points for less impulsive behaviour.
Their findings, published in Biological Psychiatry, could mean lower doses of drugs such as Ritalin in severe cases.
But they warn teachers and parents may often struggle to give instant rewards.
Estimates vary, but it is believed that up to 5% of children in the UK have some form of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
This can lead to behavioural problems including impulsive actions, fidgeting and poor attention span, and can affect a child’s academic and social progress.
In severe cases, stimulant drugs such as Ritalin, which act on parts of the brain associated with attention and behaviour, can be given.
In addition, parents are often asked to try to influence the child’s actions directly by rewarding positive behaviour and making sure that there are negative consequences if a child behaves badly.
Research has suggested that, unlike in non-ADHD children, these incentives and disincentives only work well if delivered on the spot, as opposed to later in the day or week.
The Nottingham team wanted to look at the effects of this “behaviour therapy” in the brain of the child.
They devised a computer game in which children had to “catch” aliens of a certain colour, while avoiding aliens of a different colour.
The game was designed to test the children’s ability to resist the impulse to grab the wrong sort of alien.
To test whether incentives made a difference, in one variant of the game the reward for catching the right alien was increased fivefold, as was the penalty for catching the wrong one.
Lower doses
Activity in different parts of the brain was monitored using an electroencephalogram (EEG).
They found that the incentives helped the children perform better at the game, although not to the same extent as the child’s normal dose of Ritalin.
However, the EEG revealed that both were “normalising” brain activity in the same regions.
Professor Chris Hollis, who led the research, said that the combination of drugs and incentives produced the best results, and might mean children with ADHD could take lower doses of drugs while maintaining control of their behaviour.
He said: “Although medication and behaviour therapy appear to be two very different approaches of treating ADHD, our study suggests that both types of intervention may have much in common in terms of their effect on the brain.
“Both help normalise similar components of brain function and improve performance.”
However, he conceded that it might not always be practical to use behavioural therapy.
“We know that children with ADHD respond disproportionately less well to delayed rewards – this could mean that in the ‘real world’ of the classroom or home, the neural effects of behavioural approaches using reinforcement and rewards may be less effective.”
Andrea Bilbow, from the National Attention Deficit Disorder Information and Support Service (Addiss), echoed this: “It means you have to be in front of that child 24/7, and you just can’t do that – teachers and schools would have to totally change the way they deal with this.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Published by BBC on April 19th, 2010.
Posted by SuperADDMom on August 18, 2009
Yes, you read that right, and let me be the first to admit that I let my kids play with dangerous things.
OMGZ!! I’m a terrible mother! But wait! Why not read the rest before you go calling the appropriate authorities on me. I let them do it for their own good. If you are still worried when I’ve said my peice, I’ll give you the “evidence” you need to know just how terrible a mother I really am!
Looking back, I think sometimes that people didn’t see my learning disabilities/ADHD and audio processing issues as a kid because I was outside a lot playing, doing the things of my own accord, just being a kid.
You know, doing the things, that we as parents now with kids with these same kinds of issues pay people who call themselves occupational therapists a LOT of money to schedule into their daily routine as therapy.
We pay them to first figure out what kind of PLAY will best help our kids issues, and then we pay them more to get our kids to play on padded mats in rooms with trained spotters and safety equipment, and guess what…our kids usually HATE it, because it is associated with their “issues that need to be fixed”
It is sad, that it has come to us paying to practically force our kids to finger paint and stick their hands in beans, tumble and roll, and jump and climb up plastic fake rock walls and listen to music.
When I was a kid that was free, how moms just knew what to do to keep kids busy and something I WANTED to do even if my mom DIDN’T want me to.
We live rural and we somehow manage to survive on a pretty low disability income due to my husband’s health. Affording occupational therapy for my kids numerous sensory issues is out of our financial reach and not covered by our government, as well as too far away physically to even afford to GET to, never mind pay for.
So, I do what worked for me when I was a kid. I just let my kids be kids.
Our back yard is our therapy room. I’m working on recreating a space in our workshop for the winter months when outdoors are too cold for daily events.
When my son starts spinning in the kitchen for vestibular stimulation, or stands on the furniture and sits on the rocking chair upside down to watch TV because his “brain can’t make him stop” I send him outside to jump and play, and be a kid. OR if i can’t send him outside,I have what I didn’t have as a kid to help him, a round of Wii Fit jogging, on the Wii.
I’m not a lisenced occupational therapist, but it is not rocket science folks. I’ve read dozens or more books on this stuff, I have two active kids with sensory issues, and my own issues to be my case studies. I have read dozens of websites on therapy related products and what they “accomplish” when used on kids with my kids sensory issues and can figure out for myself what I can do at home to accomplish the same thing for free or cheaper.
Being an occupational therapist means figuring out what things a person needs help with, and giving them exercises to benefit them and help them improve or maintain ability. I call it being an “Ability Growth Coach™” , and it is pretty simple.
As my kids Ability Coach, I let them play with rocks, and sticks. They take mud and cake it together with leaves and make pies. I let them play in the backyard with wood and rope, and build a teeter totter.
They swing on rope swings I’ve made them for nothing for sensory stimulation that calms their nervous systems and slows the hyperactivity down, and I even let them figure out gravity for themselves when they stand and balance on an old bike rim and topple off.
I let them climb trees without being duct taped in bubble wrap for protection. I even let them play on an old rusty metal play set at our local drive-in.
All in the name of Therapy… ahh who am I kidding, I let them do it because they love it, and it is fun, and it is what they want to do.
Kids generally know their limits and will safely test their limitations out…they won’t climb higher in the tree than they feel comfortable with. If they do, they’ll fear it for a bit, puzzle it out, and usually eventually figure out a way to get down on their own.
I’m tired of our society limiting my choices available to me as a parent by banning and/or by creating new laws and standards everyday we must adhere to, or fear the dreadful knock on the door from CAS/CPS because some busy body neighbor thinks we are allowing our kid to play unsafely or “unsupervised” (i.e. not having one eyeball glued to the kids butt)
I’m tired of our governments thinking we need to save us from ourselves. But I guess when you cannot ban stupidity or carelessness in humans, the next best thing is to protect them from themselves.
Yes, over the last 25 years since I was my own occupational therapist as a kid, other kids have been hurt badly or killed by things we no longer allow. I have my own battle scars and stories for each one of my own injuries.
Sure, it was likely unecessary for them to have been hurt/killed.I’m sure you probably know someone personally who was. I’m not heartless. It is sad when someone dies or gets hurtfor any reason. But, if I took the time to break them down for you here (I have done it before) the stats on such things is miniscule. The number of incidents are so minimal when you average out the population number in total, and the numbers hurt by any one thing, you’d have better chances of being killed on the way home tonight from work. So, why are we not banning cars?
My kids love to play. Ya, maybe they get a scrape or a bruise here or there, splinter, a thumb hammered accidently,but they are learning and they are not in real danger. They are also learning when they get a splinter, how NOT to do that again, and how to get out a splinter and treat the wound without running off to the ER like they’ve severed a limb.
IT amazes me how my kids fall down and bump themselves, check with me, get some hugs and a “you’re ok” first aid when I assess they are ok, and they pick up and keep going when some other kids cry for a half hour and the parent is off to the ER concerned about a concussion, while blaming the equipment the kid was on for being unsafe.
The equipment isn’t “unsafe”. It’s always a “risk” like everything in life. Their assessment of the situation, and handeling of the outcome just sucks. THOSE kinds of parents are who got merry go rounds, and slides that are “too high and dangerous” outlawed. Those are the kind of people that got baby walkers banned in Canada.
GROAN!
So, I’ll get off my soapbox now, but here’s the evidence if you want to call the local authorities on me…this is my kids this afternoon playing, I mean doing their therapy. Not ONLY did they do that, but it was a homeschooling lesson as well in math, physics, engineering, constructing/industrial arts, phys-ed, Leadership skills, team work skills, and they don’t even know it!
What they don’t realize they are doing will do them a lifetime of good.
Posted by SuperADDMom on June 19, 2009
I always said that when I was a mother I’d never lack the patience my mother had with me. But that was before I had children, before I was Dxed with ADD, and before I knew my kids would be so…diverse as well.
Now, as the mother of an ADHD child, I know what my mother must have endured with me, since she too, is the mother of an Add child now an ADDult And we are pretty sure she has it herself, along with LD’s like dyslexia etc. ( she once circled the island I live on twice trying to find our house and the next time I had to give very straight forward simple, step by step instructions that included visual point markers so she’s know they were on the right path.)
Anyway…The awareness on that level that my mother and I have of each other TODAY is uncanny, but as an ADDmother then ( her ) trying to parent an ADD child ( me) she didn’t have what I have…Knowing I have ADD while raising my ADD kids. We just didn’t understand the issues with inattentiveness and distractedness. It was a tough time. The older I got the harder it was to relate. The best years for me were before I was about 11 or 12.before it got too complicated.
I’m lucky that I know what ADD is, and that I’m medicating for it for myself ( cause otherwise I’d be a bumbling idiot, literally). It helps me have more patience then she did for mothering kids who both have pretty big adhd traits.
I also, as an ADDer, for some reason, have this very close link to childhood/teenhood…so I relate to kids very well. But I relate to ADD kids better it seems. I can be more sympathetic then their non ADD parents.
So I often probably tend to let the kids “get away” with more then The Mundane One does. I “understand” where they are coming from, and why they do some of the stuff they do. It’s a constant struggle. I go from being a “crabby mom” trying to give them more stability to see improvements in their behavior, and then waffle back to the more organic lifestyle that is simpler on the brain for me ( and them) My poor husband though, who once thrived on a “bit” of organization lives in our chaos now, since he is surrounded by it.
Between me, and the kids he hardly ever gets a word in edgewise. I can’t blame him for being upset, someone is always interrupting, but what do we do…this IS what it is.
It drives me nuts cause I have social anxiety all the time, worrying about what I said, how I said it, did I say to much. etc etc. and now living in a small hamlet… I think it is getting worse. And then I have anxiety cause I feel like I am always getting upset with the kids, and the neighbors must think that I’m a terrible mother. Or if I talk to them, I talk too much, and the kids yammer on, and I need to keep them ”
in check”
Sigh….this is just some of the thoughts going through my mind tonight. I don’t like being a crabby mommy…I need to let it go… butit is so hard.
Posted by SuperADDMom on June 18, 2009
For your reading pleasure today, since it’s raining and my kids are wii fitting to “get their sillies out”.
An old article I wrote for a parenting site about the Nintendo Wii & Wii Fit. Though it is over a year old, it still applies.
I thought with all the anti med talk for ADHDkids recently, it might be good to bring awareness to the benefits of the Wii Fit.
I use it with my kids a lot and notice they seek less hyper stimulation and argue with each other less for stimulation, as well as have better attention spans when they can Wii Fit for 20 minutes twice a day.
Even Doctor John Ratey advocated the Wii Fit’s balance training as beneficial on a free teleseminar at ADDclasses.com recently, before the official call began while talking with Tara McGillicuddyabout ADD and exercise.
But given the ability to do yoga, aerobics, strength training, foot eye coordination/balance games, and even quiet sitting meditation, there are a lot of people misunderstanding just how much the Wii Fit can do for you.
I even set my WiiFit to freestep while I listen to the teleseminars, to get in my exercise.
My 8 year old loves yoga and skijumping. She’s ADHD/PDD NOS and my 4 year old son enjoys the free jogging chasing the doggie “mii” he made of his favorite stuffed animal “vanilla puppy” and loves the soccer game, which is great for vestibular stimulation seeking kids with ADHD or CAPD. (spinning, sommersaults, watching tv upside down on the couch.)
My very hyper 4 year old son-"gummy bear", getting his sillies out.
Wii Hab
While everyone clamors for a Nintendo Wii this 2007 holiday season and can’t get one, they have hopes and are being told that after the holiday demand dies down they’ll be easier to get in spring of 2008 and onward, but I wouldn’t get my hopes up just yet!
It seems an unforeseen use for the Wii is starting a larger demand for them as the Wii has started to gain popularity among doctors and occupational therapist for what is now being called “Wii-Hab”.
A quick Google search will give you dozens of results for the Wii being recommended for weight loss in kids, teens, couch potato adults and even being purchased for seniors homes as part of their fitness regime for those who can’t get out anymore, but would like to stay active and out of a wheelchair as long as possible.
Injured soldiers, stroke victims, and brain injured patients across North America have been prescribed “Wii Therapy” as part of their rehabilitation and mass improvements in recovery time and general health are being noticed across the board.
No longer can society solely blame videogames for the demise of our youth!
The Wii is here to change that point of view forever.
Parents with children who have ADHD, Aspergers, Autism Spectrum Disorders, Dyspraxia and other neurological issues are noting the benefits to letting their kids play a session of Wii sports in the morning, and then again in the afternoon when they get home from school.
Less clumsiness overall, better attention span and less disruptive behaviour are being reported with the use of the Wii, when used in small time periods so hyperfocus won’t set in.
Parents are expressing their gratefulness at their purchase and joy at stumbling across an occupational therapy accidentally for their children that would otherwise cost them a fortune with therapists and rehab facilities.The best part is that it’s fun, the kids don’t know it’s “therapy” and the parents can do it with them for some family fun time.
The Wii could very well be THE greatest medical invention of this century! Helping to not only lower obesity percentages among our youth, or even overall population, and with that decreasing the odds of diabetes, high blood pressure, strokes, heart attacks!! But, also giving people with neuro based deficits some hope for a medication free therapy!!!
With a few gift card requests from family for presents to be able to purchase a Wii, even a low income family in need of the health and medical benefits of Wii Therapy could own one in no time (when the demand and supply issue is worked out by Nintendo, of course)
Given all that, when you factor in the cost of non insured occupational therapy for 6 weeks of rehabilitation, or a years gym membership, the costs of driving back and forth to the facility, it makes the Wii a very affordable and appealing purchase.
Wouldn’t you agwii!?
and no..Nintendo didn’t pay me to say this, but if they are reading…we would love a free mario cart game!! GummyBear broke ours by scratching it when he was 2 from twirling it in the case being excited to play.
Posted by SuperADDMom on June 14, 2009
My son checking out the tadpoles on an evening jaunt on a back country road
So, right off the bat, before I go offending someone who has an ADHD child, in the city, who attends school. I’m not saying rural living and/or homeschooling is a “cure” or that you should pack up and move to the country and start homeschooling your child. Rural life is not for everyone. I can understand that.
But having grown up in the country all my life, and having tried the fast pace of the city, the rushed lifestyle, the schedules ” and all that jazz”…Out here in the country, I just “fit ” better. My kids just “fit” better. ADHD just doesn’t exist especially when your ADHD kids classroom is outdoors catching snakes, sitting in the ditch yelling into culverts studying echoes and how sound travels, finding out where tadpoles come from, naming plants, and getting your feet dirty while picking rocks for a campfire pit.
I’m not trying to paint a rosy picture of rural living…my kids are not medicated for their neurodiversities, and they do drive me crazy some days, when they grate on each other’s last nerve and need a break from each other, and I’m about ready to lose my mind from my Concerta running out at about 5 pm, and I get scatterbrained myself, and there is still supper and bedtimes to be done.
Some days it sucks when we have to go to town or the day to run errands for the month, and we’re out stuck in a vehicle most of the day and they are about ready to climb the inside of the van walls. But if I had to parent my kids, in the city, sending them to school on a schedule, for THEM and my OWN ADD, and they were unmedicated. I’d probably be in a rubber room at the nearest city hospital!
Got ADHD? Rural life is the Rx Its just more laid back, and everyone is a bit more forgiving.
Oh look…Cows!
Posted by SuperADDMom on March 3, 2009
Hubby and the children decided to do some chemistry/science tonight
making crystals, while I made a science experiment of cooking dinner.
I snuck the picture, he doesn’t like having his picture taken, and
he’ll be upset that I did, but I don’t care…he is a good daddy &
that needs to be documented
Posted by SuperADDMom on February 9, 2009
So, I mentioned in my last blog post that I’m reading some books on ADHD to refresh my memory, and to apply it to the kids and their hyper ways, scatterbrain issues, and the whole non compliance issues we are having with 2 adhd (plus) kids, and a ADD mommy who forgets to be consistent in the routine department and consequences to keep them in a routine ( which is how ADHD kids cope best)
Some of the techniques have been things we did before, but me and my ADD ways, I forget, stop doing them, and things go back to the chaos.But the last two days have been decent when I started the “1,2,3 magic” over again, and I’ve been able to nip unwanted behavior in the bud by usually the calm but firm count of two.
One of the biggest issues of ADHD kids is night insomnia…and their inability to “shut off their brain” and get to sleep, they just keep going and going and going, and even when they are totally exhausted and totally crabby and bawling in a puddle of thier own tears on the floor from frustration, they still have a hard time some days falling asleep. It is completely physically and mentally and emotionally exhausting for all involved, and everyone ends up short tempered when lack of decent sleep sets in.
Last night hubby and I were laying in bed chatting and reading the books and comparing notes, and for like the 6th night in a row, our 8 year old daughter who has been having ever increasing issues falling asleep due to her general compulsive worrying and anxieties, comes in unable to sleep again, very frustrated with herself, and upset…I mention to hubby that the book I’m reading mentioned melatonin, and it was something I’d forgotten about. He reminded me that he had some he stopped using because the doctors recommended it for his CFS, but it gave him adverse side effects due to his strange and complex system functioning. So he took out the bottle, read it to see recommendations, weighed our daughter, determined a safe dose and gave it to her for a try. She took it after much convincing and crushing the small pill, and went back to bed, and nothing more was said. She seemed to fall asleep, but we were not sure how long she laid and read or watched a dvd to do so.
Then, she slept in until noon!!! And we had to get up and out the door for a party. she was SOOOO crabby…Yesterday we went to a birthday party for some friend’s youngest daughter ( first bday), and we were there for a good 4 hours since I was hired to do photography for the party for them, and since I was busy flitting about the room, my kids filled up on pop and chips and other hyper inducing foods with very little substance…we got home and once again our children were too hyper at even midnight to sleep ( usual bedtimes is 8:30 and 10 pm) they were fighting and jumping around, watching dvd’s trying to “settle” in the kid den, and I was so mentally exhausted i didn’t care if they did or did not sleep, I was just at LEAST hoping for a hyper focus on their parts of a movie they liked so I could have some silence and hear myself think after being at a party with over 35 people!
So, forward to today, they had finally fell asleep at like 3 ish AM, and we were heading to bed at like 4 am, because we NEED some no kid, alone time that doesn’t involve sleeping side by side….they slept until about 11 am, and got up, and were their usual busy, energetic selves, running all over the house and just going totally full throttle all day.
I was so not in any position today to hear their fighting and arguments, and trying to explain personal space to a wiggling 4 year old…I’m feeling like I am getting some stomach bug of some kind, and my plans to do anything productive to make up for my total lack of housework the last 3 days was foiled…i did a few dishes and cleaned up after the stuff they did today, so as not to have a COMPLETE disaster to clean up tomorrow or whenever I feel better, and I was mentally drained and in no mood to deal with kids again until 3 am!
Hubby reminded me to try them both on melatonin tonight, so I broke up the doses and put it in their drinks at the table for their evening lunch ( snack really, but in Cape Breton the food and tea consumed between the large evening meal and bedtime is called lunch)
Within 35 minutes, my son who ate his lunch licking his milk from a bowl to “play puppy” while he danced standing on the chair while eating his food, yelling and singing at the top of his lungs to annoy the pants off his sister, was laying over the computer chair in the living room, starting to look TIRED!!! and my daughter, who during her lunch at the table being pestered by her little brother and was whining in piercing tones to tell me to make him stop bugging her and SCREAMING at him while she swung her leg from the chair in a rhythmic motion to keep moving, was sitting easily without figitting beside hubby looking at the latest video going around on twitter ( david after the dentist!) and was giggling, not LAUGHING so loud that she was shreaking and getting wound up!!!!
I looked at them and almost wondered where my children were and who replaced them with these reasonable replicas!! I then said to hubby..”I gave them the melatonin at lunch eh?” and he said, ” you mean just now?” ( he still cannot understand why we east coasters call it lunch) and I said Ya.. he looked at Bupba and was in shock! ” he’s actually TIRED!!!” he mouthed to me…we’ve never really seen what tired looked like on our 4 year old son before!
Usually bedtime is an hour fight to get them upstairs and requires me to be with them for 4 to 5 story books, dark rooms, and whispering and keeping them in their rooms. Tonight I said ” time for bed I think” and told them to head on up, and they pretty much went without arguing with ME or each other!!!!!!!!!!!!
I went up to check on them and found them laying on the floor in the den camped out watching fox and the hound being very interested and quiet and NOT trying to climb the shelves, jumping off the desks etc….so I just left them….then I went back and checked again, paranoid, and because I so very often am NOT comfortable with silence from MY ADD children…. in less then 20 minutes of them tucking THEMSELVES in ( albeit on the floor in the den with fox and the hound playing on the TV but who am I to be a stickler at THIS point!), they were both asleep!!!!!!
I almost began to cry from relief on the way down the stairs. I was literally choking back tears and had a lump in my throat!!! it is ALMOST 2 am here, and hubby and I have had about an hour and a half of alone time already!!! I hope this is NOT an anomaly and that this will continue!!!!
Tomorrow night, I’ll give them the melatonin with a snack half hour before their respective set bedtimes and see where it takes us…lets hope we’ve hit on something to help them regulate their sleeping issues.
Now for the crappy part…..hubby is trying to convince ME to take melatonin too, so maybe I’ll get to bed before 5 am and sleep better in the night….and I’m resisted the urge to argue about it, because 2 am is when I do my best hyper focusing on stuff like getting my website updated, or chat with my friend on gmail, or tweeting, or blogging…. etc… LOL…
