Sleep Deprivation!

"Sleep deprivation is a general lack of the necessary amount of sleep. This may occur as a result of sleep disorders, active choice or deliberate inducement such as in interrogation or for torture." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/)


Colton, actively decided, that he no longer needed to sleep.

(Quick Background - since 5 months of age Colton has gone to bed at 7pm and sleeps until 7am or later, with only a few occurences a month - of needing to get up in the middle of the night, usually for a quick sippy cup of milk before he'd go back to bed)

So, last Monday night we found it a little odd that he cried and wouldn't go to sleep until around 8 or 8:15... must just be a freak thing. Tuesday same thing, only he cried until 8:30... maybe he's just needing it darker in his room. Wednesday (put a blanket over his window) still didn't fall asleep until closer to 9. Thursday around 8:30 Seth went into the room to calm him down and he threw up all over Seth and himself. Aahaa! This must be it, this is the reason he's not sleeping, he's sick... Friday morning comes and of course he acts totally well and fine, but since he's done this before I know better and he only gets toast and white grape juice mixed with water for the whole day. And, my mom comes out to visit to keep us company so that we don't go crazy being stuck inside all day. Friday night he again does not fall asleep until 9 or so. However, this night he wakes up again at 1am and stays up until 3:30. I'm exhausted, at this point. He seems to be eating normal again, having his milk and keeping everything down so why won't he sleep! Seth was gone all morning on Saturday so I took Colton to the library to see if we could get some "Curious George" DVD's (the only thing he'll watch on tv - stay tuned for a seperate post regarding the TV). On the way home he fell asleep so I took him straight from the car to his crib and he slept for 3 hours! Allright, this must be it now, he must be willing to sleep again, right? WRONG! Saturday night was the longest night... he never even went to sleep at all until 3 in the morning (we tried everything - things we swore we'd never do like letting him sleep with us and taking him for a drive to get him to fall asleep - but nothing worked!) and then he promptly woke up at 7am! You've got to be kidding me!? At this point I felt like I was losing my mind (I don't do well without sleep) -- THANK HEAVENS FOR MOTHERS! My darling mother came and "kidnapped" Colton so that Seth and I could get a break. She took him until Monday afternoon. In the 24 hours that she had him I got about 18 hours of much needed sleep!

Seth and I (with the clarity that comes from sleep) decided that as much as we hated to do it, it was time to get a "big boy bed" (or at least a "big boy mattress") since his crib could no longer contain him and it was getting dangerous with him climbing out all of the time (or just hanging out on the railing). We also realized that our little boy was testing us big time and we were failing - so we needed to go back and pretend like he was 5 months old all over again and start from the beginning. I took the rest of the week off from work so that we could do this together and so that I wouldn't be stressed out from lack of sleep. I also took him to the doctor this morning and they confirmed that he is just fine - no ear infections, strep throat or new teeth trying to come through!

So, here we are, the second night and I'm happy to report that he only cried for 15 min before falling asleep (it took him over an hour last night and an hour today for his nap). He's not in his bed though, but on the floor by the door (I can see his little hand under the door still) - but we'll take what we can get!

We are so grateful to my mom for coming and taking him (even though I was reluctant) and for my Dad and Emily for helping out. Sunday night they emailed us this picture so that we would know he was allright and doing just fine.


Isn't he such a cutie?