WELCOME TO JIM'S AUTISM BLOG





Hi everyone and thanks for visiting our blog. My wife and I created this blog to chronicle our experience while raising a son with Asperger's syndrome. Since our son was diagnosed with an ASD at age 5, we've had a lot of questions. Lucky for us we have a great support network in place. And our blog gives us an opportunity to share what we've learned with our readers. We hope you find our blog informative and interesting. Thanks again for visiting.


"It seems that for success in science and art, a dash of autism is essential." Dr Hans Asperger 1906-1980



Monday 16 July 2012

A SLEEPING JINX


Even Chico sleeps more than me.

So of course, my last post was about sleeping schedules, and how Jacob doesn't sleep very much.  And then I went on to explain how it adversely affects all of us through out our day.  Well, I should have just kept my mouth shut, (or fingers idle) because I totally jinxed myself.

Today I had to go to work.  I know, not a big deal.  After all, 1 day a week won't kill me.  But because our schedules are on summer time, I've had issue getting to bed early.  I still get the same amount of sleep, it's just at different times.  So last night I finally felt tired enough to go to sleep at around 12:30 AM. I get up for work at 6:30AM.  So 6 hours is more than enough for me to function.  As Shannie and I went upstairs to bed, we heard laughter coming from Jacob's room.  And he was wide awake and playing under his blankets.  Luckily we didn't have anything planned for Jacob today, because it would have been hell. 

So, we get him to settle down and relax, but by that time, it was closer to 1:00AM.  No problem.  I can still function on 5.5 hours sleep without much trouble.  Then of course, I'm tossing and turning, all the while trying to not look at the clock, which was calling for me to just take a peek.  So I did.  2:45AM it said.  No problem, I can still function on 4 hours sleep?  Then I dozed off for what felt like minutes.  And I woke up a few minutes before the alarm. 

As I stumbled, down the hall way half asleep, I realised that Jacob wasn't in his room.  This seemed strange so I went back into our room to see if Shannie was asleep.  But she wasn't there.  It turned out that Jacob was awake watching cartoons.  And he had been since about 6:00AM.  Shannie looked more like a zombie than I did, as she sat there watching Bugs Bunny and Friends.  Then I realised that Jacob was better able to function on less sleep than I am.

Then I worked 8 hours.  Not that abnormal, but when you consider I was doing physical labour outside in the 40° heat, by 5:00PM I was exhausted.  I stumbled home and had a cold shower just to wake up, and Jacob is still going strong.  Then he asked me "Dad, can we go swimming?"  And it must have been a combo of the heat exhaustion/sleep deprivation, because I said yes.

As I sit here falling asleep, Jacob is laughing and playing like he's slept all day.  So the moral of the story is, don't ever talk about how off your kids sleep schedule is.  Because if you do, you might just find yourself rambling on while typing a post.  I did a spell check before publishing, but I should have left all the errors in place.  Then you'd realise just how tired my brain is.  I'm not sure if Jacob is going to sleep well tonight, but that doesn't matter.  I know I will.

2 comments:

  1. Sounds like you have the opposite problem with your son than I do with mine. Yours won't sleep, mine won't wake up! It's hard to find that balance and a constant struggle it seems.

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    1. I've heard that kids do a 180 degree turn in their sleep habits. Diid your son sleep little as a child? I don't think I've ever slept a whole lot, but I'd like to one day.

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