Baby Steps Toward Better Sleep

In my last article I stated quite proudly that I would be normalizing the sleeping arrangements soon to better suit my needs. I said, "The blow up mattress [on the floor] is very comfortable. But my mother has been saying that there's something wrong with the mom sleeping on the floor so her child can have the big bed. And I think I'm starting to agree with her... We've been here over a month now. I think it's time to normalize the sleeping arrangements."

Have they normalized? Well, sort of. The air mattress is gone. My son, Clark, must now turn the TV off by 9:15p. But now he sleeps in the king bed with me because the only other choice is sleeping with his sister and he feels uncomfortable (the twin beds are very close together).

Clark has ADHD. He wears the Daytrana patch when he wakes up until 4:30p.m. every day. By 7p.m., like clockwork, he is hyper and a little irrational. Since we moved to Long Island on May 25, he has become quite the night owl; he rarely wants to go to sleep before 10:30p.m.

A friend who has twin boys once said about dealing with young children in a household, "Just give in to the problems. Inefficiency is your friend."

There is a lot of inefficiency in our household right now: two defunct computers, no playroom for toys and not enough drawers and closets to put our clothes away.

But the air mattress is gone and Clark has been going to bed (semi) quietly with me. Eventually each of us will get our own rooms. We're just going to take baby steps to get there.