Kung Foo Feltus: Beds, Beets, Battlestar Galactica

A friend posted something on my FB today that made me feel like a grade A kick ass parent for doing this stuff already as trouble shooting. She knows we have struggled with Aidan's sleep habits over the years and honestly we've tried every frikken thing that comes up. All options. Anything I read, we try it. Because we need a remedy for this whack waking up thirty times a night and taking over Moms side of the bed situation. Literally, he wakes me up and says "up momma", takes my hand, pulls till I get up and then walks me out of the room before climbing into my spot. SO RUDE. When you are in a super sweet sleep coma you can be led by a tiny dictator I have found. I had been sleeping on the couch on these nights because little dude would in fact fall back to sleep in my warm perfect spot with my pillows. I on the other hand had a throw blanket that often smelled like a dog fart and perhaps a hard decor pillow that had a poky down quill sticking into my head the rest of the morning until the sun came up and I made coffee. ::sigh:: I am going to spare you the list of all things tried and failed and just post this page. I really enjoyed the facts it gives and for a non-autistic child I think any one or two of these would combat sleep issues great. If you have a spectrum child like mine, you too may run the gamete before something works. And, we found what works this month may alternate with six months down the pike. http://spectrumsmagazine.com/sensory-support-for-sleepless-nights/

I want to mention that Aidan was out of his crib and sleeping in his race car bed like a pro at one year old. Too early you say? I would agree. But he doesn't cry when he is hurt and I got far to paranoid about him climbing to the top of the crib walls ( which he mastered at 8 months) and just simply letting go, landing onto his whole face ( which he also mastered at 8 months). So the race car rocked for a while. He could even be layed down tired and and put himself to sleep. Until we moved into a new house. The delay was short and the change in my opinion was that our new room was where his old room had been in the direction layout of houses. He could now only sooth himself to sleep in our bed. And that made transferring him back to the race car suck for him when he woke at 1,2 or 3 am. Trudging back into our room with his huge ass Linus blankie, tiny dictator started squeezing between us and then simply booting me out. One day I realized that he had a love for our comforter and big soft pillows and just the "big" bed itself. I guess I wouldn't want to stay in the race car after our bed either. I have slept in that bed btw and it sucks so bad. Like, call a chiropractor bad. It was time for a twin bed after only a couple years in the toddler bed. Again, too soon by normal developmental readiness and age and size. It did however solve the problem so far. He has a weighted blanket on top of his regular bedding setup and all 67,987 of his stuffed friends line the sides of his bed. Up against a wall and not facing anything exciting. Toys are out of his line of sight and his nightlight is on but out of reach. Blackout curtains have always helped with morning sun and nap but it seriously seems like we needed to adjust the whole package. And it's working. Knock on wood.

I will leave you with some cute progression pics. Time flies.