I have no idea which topic to put this post in....it covers many but all deal with sleeping. I guess the first thing is to know my son only came back into my life this winter (hadn't seen him since he was 3). Now he may be 8 by the calender but his maturity is more like 5. I am dealing with him most of the time (have joint custody now) and any raising and habits others have instilled in him....which are not all good. He has dbeen coddled his whole life...no real discipline. At first I did the same.....I missed him so much and never thought I would see him again! So here is my problems.
First, he will go to sleep very late (after midnigh) and wake super early (like 5 am)
Second, he wakes all through the night. At first it was sleep walking, then he was crying while sleepwalking....which really worried me. But now i have noticed if he begins this before i am in bed....when he sees me up, he turns and runs back to his bed (like he has been faking this whole time).
Third, this is the first night that my 2 other step kids are not here (just him and my hunny and me). Thought he would enjoy being just him. Quite the opposite. All day he was nonstop down my throat. He never wanted to do anything alone like play xbox or wii. Tonight at bedtime.....omg! Put him to bed with routine at 10:30 (would be earlier but its the weekend which is in routine as well). The next 2 hours he interrupts my hunny and I off and on.....excuses from being thirsty (still trying to teach him to get his own bottle of water out of the fridge), have to go to the bathroom, to say goodnight....again, and the list goes on. I took away his precious Ipad (from his grandparents) then finally the TV leaving the radio on with a cool nightlight. And yes I was very stern cause I was super mad! I don 't know what to do. I fear he will still wake up walking/crying later. I have talked to his father (my ex but now friend) about the walking/crying (before I noticed him running back to his room) and all he told me was he was pushing his limits to see what he can get away with. But he has been with me almost every night for the last 6 months, and calls this his "home" He has his own bed and bedroom. The bedroom is still being transformed to be more his but he has a shelf for his stuff, tv, dresser, big side table and bed...... paint and pictures are having to wait due to finances (and thats for my step kids too). The hardest thing is he never fought about bedtime before.....and I am exhausted from lack of sleep this week and the nonstop day with just him. ( My stepkids are older but are more mature too and know to do for themselves on little things.)
Somebody help me. I have already decided to talk to his father this week about taking him for a sleep study. But the whole bedtime thing tonight is more on discipline, i think. And what do i do with his sleepwalking/crying now that i am pretty sure its him faking?
I know he has had it rough and big change moving to AR from CA. Which is why tonight is the first time I even had a stern voice with him about anything. My hunny and I both have been trying to handle it all without saying anything to him negative.
Somebody please help me. |
|
Home
Login
Register
Member List