Feb 27

Last night and this morning haven't been too bad. Not sure if its the incentive thing, or what. He's also not sick, which helps a huge amount as well. Last night he went to bed fairly nicely, although he's still pulling a lot of stalls so we still can't get him to bed early enough. However, I don't want to ruin the pleasant (ish) vibe of these bedtimes just to get angry at him for stalling. The improvement of not having whining and screaming is all I can ask for right now. Expeditious bedtimes are not in the immediate future, I'm sure.
I have started him on St. John's Wort. I can't find a whole lot of info about using it for children, although there is a bit. It's like that with most holistic things, I find. No one wants to say anything, because nothing has been "scientifically proven", although there at least has been more research on St. John's Wort than there has been on other types of natural remedies. That being said, I'm watching him as best I can for side effects or allergic reactions, and I am giving him less than half the adult dose. Of course now I wonder if that's even enough, but I can up it to half once I know if his body is ok with it or not (you never know with my family). I also bought some herbal tea with all kinds of good things like cinnamon and chamomile in it for him. It's actually called "happy tea" which made me think it would have cannabis or something in it! As well, I stocked up on Rescue Remedy for the really anxious times, and I also found Rescue Remedy in a pastille form in black currant flavour. I had to point out to L they ARE NOT CANDY and showed him the price tag to prove it ($8!) since he's quite old enough to understand that.
So last night, even though he went to bed ok, he still came downstairs a bit later to have a conversation with me about school. He expressed a huge dislike for this extra help group he goes to during the day for reading and writing. A SERT runs it, and she's one of the ones I like. I know that he just doesn't like work in general, especially reading and writing, so he's looking for excuses why he shouldn't go. Last night it was that some of the kids in the group are bragging about having their work finished first and making him feel bad. We actually managed last night to avoid tears and expressions of self-hatred and somehow I managed to get him back to bed. He sucked on one of his pastilles, and we put a movie on his iPod on, playing through the dock with the sleep timer set for a half hour.
This morning he told me that he was awake for when it shut off, which means another bedtime of past ten. This kid's sleep debt must be racking up something fierce.
This morning I was lucky to not have any problems with him, other than his usual daydreaming and slowness. He even let me hug him goodbye! Perhaps it was because I told both boys they could stay home tomorrow if they wanted, as its some kind of play day with the theme of bullying awareness. Basically, they play some kinds of games outside for the morning, and in the afternoon they watch a movie. The older grades (4-8) are watching The Odd Life of TimothyGreen. I heard this movie was sad, and L is very sensitive to sad movies. The last thing he needs is to watch an emotional movie at school and then get teased for crying. So he's staying home. So much for a full week.
Oh well. ************************************************ Feb 28*************

Bedtime was very late again. We try to get things going before 8:30 normally, but last night we were finishing off a movie we had started the night before. So it was about 9 before we sent them up to bed (they were all ready)but still, L was anxious again about the extra help class and so we talked for a bit and he had a pastille and I set up the iPod for a half hour of him listening to a movie.
I don't think the movie thing is working out too well. He is too tempted to watch it, and so he ends up taking it off the dock like last night. When I went to bed at 10:30, he was still awake. And then at 11, I heard him get up to go to the bathroom, so he still wasn't sleeping yet. This is getting ridiculous and I really hope this isn't turning into a nightly insomnia thing. Lack of sleep just makes him worse, as does hunger. I'm really going to try hard for an earlier bedtime tonight, like 8:00.