I slept through the night last night. Without exaggeration I can say that it was the first time in five years! Sam is now night-weaned. This is kind of bittersweet for me. With Oliver we practiced child-led weaning and I thought I would do the same with Sam. But since the only time he wanted to nurse was between the hours of midnight and five a.m., night-weaning him has amounted to weaning altogether. But I was fortunate to be able to nurse both of my kids for more than two years so I'm happy with that. That, and the amount of sleep I got last night. Imagine that I wasn't still tired when the alarm went off this morning! So now does this mean I have to wean myself from my morning espresso? Hmm. I'll have to think about this.
On another note, I happened to find a VHS tape of home movies that we took when Oliver was between nine months and two years. I had completely forgotten about those movies. It captures the progression of his autism in breath-taking fashion. It was like watching the period of his regression in one of those time-lapse movies where everything is sped up. What a very unsettling feeling it was to watch the whole thing unfold on tape. It made my stomach kind of hurt.
I hope everyone has a very good and safe long weekend!
Ditto to you, Christine, on the long weekend, and many more nights of uninterrupted sleep.
ReplyDeleteAgain, try not to focus so much on the tape you found. Focus on the progress. It's hard, I know. I don't think I could bear to do too much looking back. The bad times were really bad. This moment, the moment we are in, is the one I want to hold on to.
I hope and wish the same for you.
Sweet dreams----I have very few videos of Charlie but I remember well the one we do have. I am talking a lot and I realize now it's because Charlie himself was not saying or doing much. Put away the tape and view it years hence and how much father on Oliver will be then!
ReplyDeleteI can imagine how heart wrenching the tape must have been. I agree with the others. Revel in all the progress he's making. :-) I hope your full night of sleep is the beginning of a trend!
ReplyDeleteChristine,
ReplyDeleteI have some tapes like that, too! My daughter was a champ at peek-a-boo and hide-and-seek. Thanks to the RDI things we are trying, we are starting to see that playful side to her personality re-emerge from its dormant state!
Tammy
Yeah for sleep!
ReplyDeleteI looked for tapes of Gabe during the months of 15-24 months (when I suspect he really showed signs of Autism) and funny enough, there isn't any footage of him. I was too busy chasing him, trying to feed him and crying.
I thank God everyday for where we are now as a family.
Kristin
Christine!!!!!
ReplyDeleteYou fell off my bloglines too! Curses, bloglines! No wonder I have so little to read lately, at least 8 of my favorite blogs had fallen off. Now I have to go back and catch up.