ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz

Oh, I think I forgot to mention, that Patrick isn't sleeping...he is up jumping at night, hopping around his room and making this really strange mouth noise.  I'm not even sure if I can put it into characters, the sound he makes.  He actually sounds and kind of looks like Daffy Duck on the looney tunes cartoons - bouncing around like a hyper-crazed, sugar-rushing junkie!  And I am not exaggerating in the slightest!  He not only does this all night long, but all day long too!  When is he going to recharge his battery?  When will we be able to get some sleep??!!!  When will he sleep?

I had actually thought I was over the sleepless nights.  Peter was well beyond the two am feedings, weren't we in the home stretch of parenting babies?  We no longer had to carry a diaper bag or rolling suit case with all of their stuff, why couldn't we sleep peacefully?  It just wasn't in the cards for us...we were way ahead of the Zombie trend, we were now the walking dead!  I used to be a sound, hard, deep sleeper, but that is no longer true.  I couldn't relax to get into that wonderful REM stage.  So long dreams.

What were we going to do?  Would Patrick finally venture outside of his room?  Would he go outside the house at night?  We didn't have an alarm system, we had deadbolts.  Who was going to watch him while we sleep?  Would he disturb the other boys at night?  I could go on and on with the questions and concerns we had.  What to do?  It seems like a simple solution right, craft your plan.

So out we went to Home Depot and we purchased the standard brass door knobs, you know the ones, the basic round knobs.  We also purchased the safety guard to go over Patrick's bedroom knob.   I installed them (Josh is not handy with a tool belt, and please don't even get him near a utility knife!) and just in the nick of time, because he literally the next night, not only defeated the safety door knob...he ventured outside of his bedroom.

He would bounce down the stairs making his funny mouth noises, he would bounce around the family room, then would find the refrigerator, get the gallon milk jug out and drag it upstairs and wake me up!  One night, he had some trouble, and ended up dragging a leaking jug up the stairs into our bedroom...that was a MESS!  Who can sleep after that?  He didn't mean to, it was an accident, all he wanted was a sippy cup of milk...I was reaching the end of my rope!

For those who know our family, you know that Josh has inherited a bad habit.  This is just about the only thing I wish I could change about him.  Other than sleeping on the couch, and his obsession with McDonald's, he is virtually the ideal husband - for me.  (I know, you can gag later), but I am serious!  Yes, we have our arguments, but we basically complete each other.  He is the yang to my yin.  Where he zigs, I zag, when one is in a bad place, the other isn't.  This is just how we roll, and fortunately for our kids, this is a good thing, and his sleeping on the couch was a good thing too.

So, the couch became the norm for Josh.  Now we had both floors covered.  I would attempt to sleep upstairs and Josh would have the first floor covered.  If Patrick watched TV, got out the milk, or our worst fears, attempted to go outside, we would be there to redirect.  I can tell you we went through so many different scenarios before coming up with this plan.  We would add another key lock at the top of the door (but what about the other boys, if there was a fire, how would they be able to get out?)  What about those split doors.  You know the ones where the bottom stays shut and the top can stay open?  That wouldn't look too good on the front of our house, and our neighborhood association wouldn't approve it anyway.

After about a month of this arrangement, and Patrick consistently getting up and staying up all night, we began to Google and found a natural herbal supplement for sleep.  Now I know what some of you may be thinking...they are going to drug their toddler?  Please, don't judge!  We were going on basically about two hours of sleep between Josh and I for almost a year, and it couldn't continue.  Our other boys needed us too!

So I asked our pediatrician about Melatonin and she said we could try it.  I became the Nurse Ratched of our house.  See Patrick couldn't take the medicine because he had swallowing issues.  Well, he also has some serious food issues, but that will need to wait for another post.  I found the lowest strength of Melatonin 3mg at our grocery store, (Spring Valley, Nature's Bounty, and many more sell this supplement) and crushed a tablet between two teaspoons and would mix it into a single serve cup of applesauce.  We called it Patrick's sleepy snack.  IF you decide to try this, please look into it first, and check with your physician before doing or giving your child anything!  I have heard of some kids having the exact opposite effect.  They become even more awake!

This was not the case with Patrick.  It worked like a dream.  Patrick would go to bed at eight or nine and would sleep through the night until about 6:30 am.  It was AMAZING!  We could go back to regular nights, sleeping - I may even be able to dream again.  It is important to note, this did work for a while.  We also mixed in jumping on a trampoline during the day - since he loved to jump, and this exercise also helped him to regulate his sleeping habits.  He, existed for almost two years on about three hours of sleep.  And now, almost six years later, we can hear him sometimes shooting hoops at 3 am in his bedroom - that he now shares with his brother Peter, but he doesn't roam any more, and other than the occasional night when Peter falls asleep first (he snores, and it drives Patrick NUTS!), his sleeping troubles - and Josh and my sleepless nights - are pretty much gone.

We did eventually install key-dead bolts, and I hung the key to each door on a small hook above the door.  That way our two older boys could reach the key and Patrick and Peter could not.  We also purchased a fire ladder and taught the boys how to use it so just in case, we had an emergency action plan and a back-up to that emergency plan.

Thanks again for following me!  I really hope this helps.  Tomorrow, I'll begin to share our EIBI experience and how "Dr. Kim" was not only Patrick's saving grace, she was our Gift from God.  More to follow, as we cruise on down to the corner of Hope and Love.