I filled out a ten-page questionnaire for Elli today, in preparation for a visit to the Sleep Clinic at our local children's hospital next week.
I had to laugh at the third question they asked.
"Why do you think your child is having problems with his or her sleep?"
Well gee. If I knew that, I wouldn't be coming to see you, now would I!
As I type this, she's in her room hollering at the top of her lungs. It's 9:45pm. We did put the kids to bed late tonight -- we had a church meeting tonight and even though she had an aide who stayed at home with her, we have learned that putting her to bed before her sister is counterproductive. Invariably, if Elli actually falls asleep before Anna goes to bed, Anna has a horrible night, cries and fusses about going to bed herself, and wakes Elli up. The effect is like Elli took a nap... incredibly late in the day. She won't go back to sleep for at least 2 hours, more likely for 3-4 more hours.
So anyway, she's been in bed since 8:45 or 9pm. She was in a great mood all through the bedtime routine. Then Scott closed the door and she began letting us have it. I suspect it's her usual complaint on Wednesdays -- lack of quality time with me. She goes to either aquatic or occupational therapy straight from school with an aide, then spends the evening with her while we host a prayer group at our home in the evening. Usually I sit with her and give her a drink after the other kids go to bed, but tonight I'm exhausted and she is sick and I thought (here is apparently my fatal error) that she would be ready to sleep when we got home.
Something that happened this evening didn't meet her expectations. So she's yelling and carrying on and I'm being stubborn. Frankly, it's incredibly difficult for me to see past her behavior to meet her needs when she is being so unpleasant. The Last Thing I Want To Do when she's being like this is go hug and cuddle with her. I guess I still have a long way to go as a mother. As of right now, unconditional love really does have its limits.
