Sleep and school

I haven't mentioned Elijah's sleep lately because it is just about the same as before...lousy. He continues to wake up very early every morning and he is absolutely unable to fall back asleep. While we were at the waterpark last weekend, he woke up at 2:30am both mornings. UGH. We have no idea when he is waking up at home because he does a really good job of laying in bed quietly, but we know it is super early based on the way he looks when we get him and Sammy out of bed at 6:30.

Since being back at school, we have been putting him to bed at 6:00 every night to make sure he gets as much sleep as possible. This helps with behavior/tiredness, but doesn't totally eliminate the issues. For the past few weeks I have been playing phone tag with his sleep specialist because I feel like we need to get to the bottom of this. We finally spoke on the phone today and she had a medication recommendation that she thinks might fit him perfectly. Back when we were weaning E off Valium (that he took to help with dizziness/nausea after his ear surgery), we noticed that for a week or so his behavior (and sleep, we think) were improved. Markedly improved. Dr. W chose a medication that is a cousin of Valium that E will take in a very low dose before bed each night.

I called Elijah's primary doctor today just to run this by her and she agreed that this is a great next step. So we started the meds tonight! We probably won't have an idea about whether or not it'll help for a good week or two since we are starting at a SUPER low dose and increasing to a still really low dose. Dan and I are filled with HOPE! Please please please pray that this will help him get the rest he needs! The medication we are trying is also prescribed for anti-anxiety, so this could potentially kill two birds with one stone.

Elijah is in the middle of his fourth week back at school! He has been doing half days and they have been going great! We think. No news is good news, right?! :) I talked to his special education case manager tonight and she confirmed that overall he is doing GREAT! He is still struggling with independence while doing school work, but so far he has managed to keep outbursts and blurt-outs mostly under control. He has been coming home with notes from girls in his folder, so he must be sending out some sort of friendly social vibes. :)

I'll be chatting with Dr. L tomorrow regarding these next few weeks. We think it would be best for E to do a few more weeks of partial days. We'd like to increase his time at school but wait until April to send him back for full days. On my list tomorrow: call Dr. L, call the bus company and sort out another schedule!

We have not continued (yet) with the memory-attention-learning testing because we are still waiting for insurance to approve it. We are really hoping this goes through because I feel like we would get major answers/help from that. E's appointment with the developmental ped is scheduled for late April and I wish it were TOMORROW. I just know we'll get answers from that, too. Lots of things are in the works to make our oldest boy a happier, more rested little guy.

On the Sammy front.. I have been gathering tons of funny material to share with you about our littlest sweetie. He is a STITCH! Seriously, he is one of the funniest people I know and he is only three years old. He needs to open a comedy club! He has more wit and creativity than most adults I know. He's a sharp one, and so so handsome. I can't wait to share the tidbits I've been collecting.

That's all for now! Thanks for checking in!