Miraculous!

Limelet had a "cold" for nearly three weeks, right as we were moving (coincidence?).  Last week he was so stuffed up that he ended up being awake from 1-5 am for 5 nights out of 7.  It was pretty much destroying our family, as that meant that not only was he miserable, sick, and awake, but all three of us were miserable, crabby, and awake.  It finally occurred to me that we have some guafenesin syrup and that it has dosages for small children, so I gave him that.  It's nasty, so it wasn't so easy getting it down him.  That seemed to help considerably, and I think even helped the infection (probably viral) clear up, since it allowed his passages to clear out.  At any rate he slept mostly through both those nights, so that was a huge relief to all of us.  Daytimes are a million times better when we're getting more than 4 hours of sleep apiece.

Last night he seemed better, but still somewhat congested, so I tried giving him one more dose.  However, he spit it out--twice--so I decided to risk the night without it.  He was better enough to sleep without it.  In fact, last night was probably about the best sleep he's had in his whole little life.  He went to sleep at 9:30, only stirred once around one and went right back to sleep, and awoke on his own around 7.  Amazing!  This also means that Mama had the best sleep she's had in three years (since before he was born.)

Really, I can't described how much better I feel, how much more like a human being and myself again.  Three nights of decent sleep topped off by a great night's sleep for ONCE.  I'm happy as a cricket, as Mrs. Banks says.  The past couple nights Limelet has been snuggling up against Daddy in his sleep instead of me.  Last night he just about crowded Daddy off the bed, as I heard.  I awoke to find TheLimey trying to gently squeeze Limelet more into the middle of the bed, muttering that he only had a foot of space at the edge of the bed in which to sleep.  Welcome to my world, I thought, and went back to sleep.

Tonight is the night that there are extremely noisy fireworks after the nearby baseball game, so I am making sure we install our air conditioner this evening so that Limelet at least has a small chance of staying asleep.  I hate to break this great sleeping streak.  Last week was a nightmare--he went to sleep at 8:30, the fireworks went off at 10:30 (?) and lasted maybe 15-20 minutes.  He twitched and stirred and generally came out of his deep sleep.  Woke up after they were over, and then was awake for four hours.  The following night (Saturday) we were unfortunately somewhat late to bed and the fireworks were fortunately somewhat earlier than before (9:30), so he actually got to sit with Daddy and watch them out the window.  He loved that and was really upset that they aren't out there all the time on his demand.

I'm still giving him melatonin before bed (down to .45 mg or 450 mcg).  It's been about 4 weeks.  I just want to get his sleep somewhat stabilized and then titrate it down, hoping we've gotten his circadian cycle in order for once in his life.  The initial .65 mg dose worked to put him to sleep but seemed to give him disturbed sleep (twitching, talking, crying, and waking), but .45 seems to work well.  Also I make sure to turn off all lights, even the night light.  The studies I saw indicated that "even a very dimly lit room" can give melatonin users disturbed sleep and nightmares.

In other news, the fair has come to town, and it's on the campus of the college.  I saw that it was going when I left work Wednesday, so I picked up Limelet from daycare and went straight back there (having stopped at home to grab some soy chicken for him to eat, and change into my jeans).  I didn't know if he'd be scared or love it. He loved it.  The lights, the big machines, the people everywhere. The first ride we went on he was a little uncertain ("Guy turn it off, guy turn it off!')  But after that he warmed up to it and wanted to try every ride, even the ones he's too small to be allowed to go on ("Ring of Fire").

Daddy arrived after we'd been on a couple rides and took over being the accompanying parent for a while, until he needed a hot dog break.  Limelet loved the ride with big bears that you get inside and they spin around; he loved the motorcycles on a circular track; and he really loved the Crazy Bus, which goes way up in the air and then back down again in a circular motion.  We got some fries or chips and had planned to put vinegar on them, but Limelet would not part with the entire hot and greasy $6 container, so we just let him have it.  He ate tons of them, as well as about half of Mama's 1/4 lb hot dog.  We had to sneak chips when he wasn't looking.

Limelet was really upset to not be able to go on the ferris wheel, and asked for it again at bedtime. Poor thing.  Not until he's 48" tall!

That afternoon was really living out my fantasies.  It was great. We were all happy, Limelet was having fun, the air was cool and smelled of fried food, and the trees and lilacs were coming into full bloom.  It was like living a Bradbury story.

We plan to go again Saturday, less spontaneously, but it'll still be great.