May is a notoriously busy month. I never realized it until I had school aged children. Everything seems to be squeezed into May. Schedules are packed. Normal routines are off. Special events are everywhere. Top that off with enough rain and cool weather to keep us trapped inside and suddenly I have a kid that is not sleeping, not focusing, not listening, and an over all unregulated mess at home. He barely eats, he seems to not require much sleep (bedtime is a 3 hours process) and my patience ceases to exist.
The result: by 10-11 pm I am just happy for him to pass out anywhere in the house that is comfortable. At bedtime he says all disgruntled "why isn't there anything fun to do?" Maybe because it is bedtime Joel! I was entertained by the picture of him cuddle in Cecilia's bed wrapped in her blanket. Normally he wouldn't touch either of those, but when it is after 11pm and your mom is insisting you find a bed, any bed, you just take what is available.
As I type this (I have given up 2+ hours of attempting to get kids in bed by myself was too much) he is running around the house, hiding in the house, attempting to steal the remote to turn on the tv, hiding in his room, playing music for a dance party in his room (while Vincent is sleeping), robbing socks out of my drawer and Brad's drawer. He went to bed at 11 pm last night and nothing we could do would change that and I am guessing the same thing again tonight. Sometimes he drags Cecilia or Vincent into it with him. Arguing with him, punishing him, threatening to take away electronic points does nothing. He is currently at -15 electronic points which is what he uses to get screen time. He will be mad about it tomorrow but for now he thinks it is funny.
These episodes of not requiring sleep happen a few times a year. It seems worse this year, but maybe that is my imagination. Even with a lot of heavy work it doesn't seem to be much better. I am hoping once school is out in a week we can spend our days wearing Joel. Life on the spectrum can be exhausting. There are other simple things that make life hard around here but they are currently taking a backseat to the not wanting to fall asleep. I am looking forward to Joel going back to be the easy one to put to bed.
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