Sleepless in Farmington

My husband deserves a super duper awesome gold star for the day.  Cause he rocks.
While I was out with a righteous migraine, he tended to Caleb all afternoon.  (thank you, sweetie!)  It is times like this that makes me realize that having a partner just makes life so much easier.  I have so much respect for single moms.

But, I digress.

I have read that kids with Autism Spectrum Disorder can have problems with sleeping, whether it be going to sleep or staying asleep.  While in the past month or so, Caleb has woken up in the middle of the night crying, leading my husband and I to assume he had a bad dream (night terrors can be associated with ASD), lately Caleb is having problems just going to sleep.

My husband tried 3 times to put Caleb down for a nap today and it just didn't happen.  Caleb would cry for an extended period of time while in his crib and it would seem that leaving him in his crib was mean and futile.  Sometimes he gets hysterical, having these deeply rooted, almost screaming cries that bring us running to his room, frightened that something is seriously wrong.  When we do eventually calm him down, he is right as rain and goes on his merry way.

Today, Caleb's bedtime was also a struggle.  Caleb was up until 10:00pm, which is crazy since A) he didn't have a nap, and B) his bedtime is 7:30.  Right up until he went to bed, he was running around, having fun, showing no signs of exhaustion.  However, about 30 minutes afters he was put down, he quieted down and I imagine he is asleep.

The problem with Caleb's nap time being a battle is that I have to schedule out my life and his.  I need to be able to know when he is going to nap so that we can do things like go to doctor appointments, go grocery shopping, etc.  And sometimes, I can't always get a morning appt, or sometimes because he went to bed so late he slept in later.  Or maybe he doesn't sleep in later and he is just a cranky mess the next day.

I know it sounds like such a petty thing, but it would be nice if not everything were so hard.  Especially this since it has such an effect on his mood and health.  But everything with him is a battle, from getting him to eat right to brushing his teeth, to even sometimes just changing his diaper.

I look forward to getting help because sometimes I feel so tired and scared.

My husband asked me how long his blog can actually sustain since I can't have feelings about Caleb's autistic tendencies forever.  He thought that at some point, Caleb is going to be normal and that I will have nothing to write about.  Wouldn't that be awesome?